


The Monster who Bled

by Bad_Dreems, Mz_Mere (Gelasia_Kidd)



Series: Dreamer's End [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Execution Points, Gen, Gun Violence, Horror, Implications to Nonconsentual Nonsexual Bondage, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Implied/Referenced Torture, LEVEL OF VIOLENCE, My First Fanfic, Original Character(s), Psychosis, Racial Slurs and Offensive Language, Reference to Drugs/Alcohol, References to Depression, Vanilla Universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2018-09-25 03:30:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 22
Words: 207,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9800843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bad_Dreems/pseuds/Bad_Dreems, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gelasia_Kidd/pseuds/Mz_Mere
Summary: What is a monster?Is it defined by jagged grins full of bloodthirst? Piercing, demonic horns? Unnatural claws and form?Or is it something more? Is it a depraved nature, a SOUL destroying hatred.What is the line? Where is the truth?And how.. What.. Could rip the humane out, and leave nothing but a title.The cruelest wounds are inflicted by those whom know them.So what is a Monster?Blood drips from human hands, and DETERMINATION isn't enough to wash them clean.Deeper we go.Darker.A red tinted gaze surveys innocence but does not recognize it.Do you LOVE?





	1. Unsolicited Pandemonium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The lights are flashing.  
> ʀᴜɴ ꜰᴀꜱᴛᴇʀ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ʙᴏʏ...  
> Shrill sirens are blaring.  
> ʀᴜɴ ꜰᴀꜱᴛᴇʀ, ʏᴏᴜɴɢ ᴄʜɪʟᴅ.
> 
> Fights, never ending.  
> ʀᴜɴ ꜰᴏʀᴡᴀʀᴅ, ʏᴏᴜɴɢ ᴍᴀɴ. 
> 
>  
> 
> STAGNATION.  
> You know fear, and fear knows you.  
> Hatred speaks your name.  
> Taints your actions. 
> 
>  
> 
> ᴅᴇꜱᴘɪᴄᴀʙʟᴇ. 
> 
>  
> 
> ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ʙᴏʏ, ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ᴅɪᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴏ?
> 
> Don't drop the knife.  
> Cut deeper.  
> Hit harder. 
> 
> ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ꜱᴛᴏᴘ.  
> ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ꜱᴛᴏᴘ.
> 
>  
> 
> ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ  
> ᴀʟʟ ʏᴏᴜ ʟᴇᴀᴠᴇ, ɪꜱ ʙʀᴏᴋᴇɴ ꜰᴀᴍɪʟɪᴇꜱ  
> ᴀʟʟ ʏᴏᴜ ᴋɴᴏᴡ, ᴀʀᴇ ʙʀᴏᴋᴇɴ ꜰᴀᴍɪʟɪᴇꜱ
> 
> HATRED. HATRED.  
> The boogeyman who haunts NIGHTMARES. 
> 
> "ᴍᴏᴍᴍʏ ɪ'ᴍ ꜱᴄᴀʀᴇᴅ."
> 
> THETA OMEGA.  
> THE LAST DEATH  
> Is yours.
> 
> ɪ'ᴍ ꜱᴏ ᴛɪʀᴇᴅ.
> 
> ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴛᴏ ʙʟᴏᴡ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄᴏᴠᴇʀ.
> 
> The haze of twilight glows in the distance. 
> 
>  
> 
> ᴛʜɪꜱ ɪꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ. 
> 
>  
> 
> The Wanted poster with your face glows briefly as you speed past, headlights on bright.  
> ᴏꜰꜰ ᴏɴᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰʀᴇᴇᴡᴀʏ, ꜰᴀꜱᴛᴇʀ, ꜰᴀꜱᴛᴇʀ. 
> 
> A sign:
> 
>  
> 
> Next Exit:  
> 201  
> MT EBBOT NATIONAL PARK

 

 

 

[1:30 AM ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKm6v12OCIw)

 

*If you cannot visit this link, an audio transcript will be provided*

That noise… that _awful_ noise! If the correct response to an incident was of fear and bewilderment, then the broadcast did it’s job in spades. Gratuitous was the word for it, with a town population just shy of 200, it didn’t take much to get a message around.

 

But still, every soul was awake now, drowsy and dreadful: Mission Accomplished…. Some even retained the ringing noise in their ears, lucky them.

 

Actually, more began to hear the ringing, minutes after the television & radio scare, it only grew louder… and closer

 

The building scream broke the illusion of tinnitus in the town as it continued to grow in size and numbers, the ear piercing chorus of sirens was soon accompanied by the roar of machines, with the undertone of shouting men, mixing all the sensory overkill into a dull blur.

 

The lights soon followed as the flags for this cacophonous ensemble; Red and Blue, Blue and Red, with the blinding white searchlights to sit front stage.

Everyone could see the sight before their eyes, standing anxiously behind sealed doors, peeking through ajar blinds, even glancing through windows with hands on cupped over their ears.

Car after car followed by massive trucks only leading a procession of armored vehicles. The dirt roads gave way to the army of assault vehicles and where the sky permitted it: dozens of helicopters blanketed  the land with lights.

The identity behind this hysteria was everywhere: Prominently painted on the hulls of their machines or sewn onto patches of the men hustling along side these vehicles, wielding assault rifles and combat shotguns.

_STATE POLICE, S.W.A.T., F.B.I., D.H.S._

The harsh message predicted this, obviously these were the ‘good guys’ and that fact would remain true despite their rampant charge through the feeble community. But there was still something unfulfilled about the alert, the alleged cause of this disturbance.

Where’s the bad guy?

 

A terrified scream spawned the first seed for a witness testimony. “ _Mommy! Look! Look!”_ A small child reflexively pointed at a sliding glass door, the sight behind it drained the color from the parent’s face. “ _Oh fucking god! Get away from the door!”_

It stared at the petrified family for only a moment, before bolting away from the door, vaulting over the backyard fence like a grime covered deer in the absence of headlights.

* * *

  
The presence of chaos was mutual for the uniformed forces swelling the land, of the available radio frequencies: only three channels relayed  comprehensible english. A network of cool headed dispatchers created this faux caste system.

‘Channel 3 for units on foot, Channel 6 for Vehicular units, and Channel 13 reserved for the men up in the sky.’ The dispatchers existed on their own omniscient channel, repeating and receiving crucial messages up and down the ladder of command.

This established order would soon see an inevitable frenzy developing from the play by play.

**117.34** **(Chnl3):**

**“** 192 Here, we got a (10-67) here, a woman and adolescent just ran out of their house, she’s screaming something, I can’t…” The whole channel was treated to an indecipherable barrage of muffled hysteria.  “... _Hold on ma’am, please. Just give me a second-”_

**“Unit 192? Status on the (10-67)?”**

A different voice took the liberty of replying, it was almost as shaken as the woman outside. “This is Unit 93, Dispatch, Advise to Air units we got a potential (10-66) here! Repeat (10-66), the resident claims she saw a man in her backyard!”

The dispatcher broke character, her nerves began to show in her voice, while others began to clot around the development in channel 3.”

**“What? Unit 93, (10-22)?**

**“Potential (207 In progress) all units advise-” “(10-62A) potential confirmation on suspect.”**

**“93, can you give a location? (10-18).”**

The point of no return was inevitable, the message would be relayed to all three hundred radios within seconds.

“Uhm, It says, ‘Ebott Valley’ on the road sign, the (10-22) is uh, _‘Ebott Valley, E-B-B-O-T.  (10-9)?_ The backyards."

 

**“(10-4) 87.”**

 

**132.83 (Chnl 13):**

**“We got a report of a possible (10-70) in the Ebott Valley area, Potential (10-66) Reports claim the potential is behind the houses, the fenced yards. Any air units in proximity to search?”**

The request was handled by a cool voice, it held its ground under the pressure.“Copy that Dispatch, Chopper 11 here, performing a scan on the yards, (10-63) dispatch.”

**“(10-4) Chopper 11, be advised this is a (10-62A) so It could be a negative, can you declare a-”**

The cool voice was short lived, something anxious interrupted the dispatcher. “Holy shit! There he is! It’s _him!_ Dispatch, I’m positive on this guy! He’s on the right side of the road, behind all the houses hopping the fences! That’s _Omega!._ Do you copy?!”

The channel was silent, the man on the broadcasting end was not. “I repeat! _Suspect Omega_ is in Ebott Valley! He’s heading for the woods by the mountain! (10-18)! Ten - _Fucking_ \- Eighteen!!!”

 

**117.34(Chnl3),121.19(Chnl6), &132.83(Chnl 13) ** ***Broadcasting on ALL frequencies***

**“All units, we got a confirmed (10-66) in Ebott Valley, Repeat, the (10-66)** **_IS_ ** **confirmed! Suspect Omega is on foot traversing through the backyards heading northbound towards… Mount Ebott Wilderness. All adjacent units respond!”**

* * *

 

There he was, a black and red mass standing in contrast to the shades of green basking in the limelight. A perfect representation of the filthy blemish tainting the face of the earth.

 

The endured, _blinding_ lights from the sky and the sounds of chaos closing in really meant only one thing, _You’re Fucked…_

The number of wooden enclosements ahead approached zero and the tidy and man-made order of a land plot devolved into a sea of trees; thick brush, and total darkness, a respite from the heaven sent beams.

 

_-You’re Fucked…_

It had occurred to him prior to his moment of fame, the pessimistic mantra of a worst case scenario being upstaged by something increasingly bleak. No… he was _Fucked_ when he stepped on the gas at the toll booth, sending the desk-jockey cops scrambling for their radios.-

 

“Total Darkness” became inconsistent as a horde of maglights pursued him with angered voices ringing out in the distance. The searchlights from above desperately attempted to penetrate the generous canopy, occasionally flickering through the facade in a frantic strobe.

 

\- It had developed into _‘Really’ Fucked_ when he had to go on foot. A dispute over the Chevy’s fuel gage led the two to part ways in a ditch. His severance from their partnership  was taken from the trunk, a black dufflebag and a foul smelling lug wrench. 

 

-But now, as the manhunt was becoming an established pursuit, the bleak feeling progressed the level of spite. He was _Totally Fucked_ now.

 

Yet, despite the declaration of guaranteed demise and bulk riding on his shoulders, it seemed that he was actually making distance. The roads and searchlights soon left his peripheral vision, the sounds of shouting began to fade into obscurity.

But just as Omega sought to admit an impending victory, he heard a new set of sounds birthed from the shouting voices. They were rapid; easily recognizable, and they were getting closer by the second.

 

*Barking*

 

He turned his head in horror, the unseen terrors gained on him covered by the blackness of the forest floor in true nightmarish fashion. The flashlights from behind briefly hit the things, allotting the pursuee blinks of the snarling beasts.

 

-At this time, he was _Absolutely Fucked_

 

He looked down at his feet and forced his already straining body into a sixth gear. The combined stress began to breakdown inside of him: Flames erupted from his lungs, scorching his windpipe while streams of blood jettisoned from his arid nostrils. Invisible screwdrivers mercilessly prodded at his sides, stabbing erratically and intensifying with each step.

 

The massive influx of adrenaline made it easy to overlook and ignore irrelevant matters, the slimy concoction of  blood and sweat drenching your face and clothes, the fear of goring yourself on a branch in the dark, your body tearing itself apart from the inside, or even that fact that the ground began a sharp incline a couple hundred yards back.

 

Really the only thing on his mind was what would happen if he stopped, the dogs were only seconds away and if they caught him… there’d be a full minute or two before the handlers would catch up to remove the rabid things. There wouldn’t be much left to deal with by then. 

 

The canopy gave away as the man ascended up the narrowing land, the return of the unforgiving spotlights blinded the man as helicopters reorientated their unforgiving gazes. The sight of a public enemy scaling ‘Mt Ebott’ repeated itself over national television.

 

Even without the use of his eyes, the man furiously continued his ascent and eventually employed the use of his hands as the incline quickly became aggressive. To his fortune though, the slope wasn’t as onerous on his hands and opposable thumbs than it was for the paws of his pursuing canines. Their rapid progress slowed to unsteady scratches and measly attempts at traction.

The moment of truth, if he could get out of the light, then he was home free! A gray canister was produced from one of the many pockets on the black bag, the man relieved the device of its lever, before rolling it to the end of the flat landscape. 

In moments, a curtain of red smoke blanketed the south face of the mountain, the conclusive coverage on ‘Suspect Omega’ fell right back into a hardscrabble search. Whether you were involved in this all night, or you just came in for a scoop: you were seeing red either way.

 

The mountain plane was slowly consumed by the massive cloud. Desperate to relocate their top story, news choppers intruded the order of the police whirlybirds for airspace. Neither of them would gain a new angle from this.

All the more convenient for the man making his way behind the smoke. He slinked around the plateau, it eclipsed the light from the other side.

 

 

Darkness, sweet _sublime_ darkness, the world behind retreated at the discretion of a confused army, Omega felt his senses taking over in place of stimulation. Everything outside was muffled by his initial efforts to  wind down: slow his ailing heart, curb the hyperventilation, wipe away the residue from the many orifices.  

In the desperately needed breather, he’d nearly forget the universal force trying to get him, but a set of jaws snapping shut on his forearm reminded him about what wasn’t out of play yet.

The surge of pain resonated throughout his already ailing body and only brought the other intense pains into relevance. The attack dog tore through his clothing and skin: slicing muscles and severing capillaries with its razor edged teeth. Blood and saliva spattered like raindrops collectively up to his chest and head, the dog’s fur became a canvas for the liquid as well.

Through his violent thrashing exacerbating the mangled appendage, he saw the rest of the pack careening towards him and even further back: flashlights clambering up to his altitude: the cavalry arriving to the scene.

It was surely over now, at the brink of collapse while being barred by seventy pounds of viciousness ripping him apart, he’d await the lagging four legged monstrosities and the two legged uniforms that followed. _Undoubtedly Fucked_

Unless….

Being unable to run away or act accordingly, it was either fight, or die.

  _You do_ _it_

 

The free arm introduced the bludgeon to the canine's skull multiple times, the fifth one freed the man's arm: sending the dog down to the ground sounded off by an agonized whine. 

 

The discernible voices returned, their outcries easily overshadowed the sound of helicopter rotors.

“Oh god! K9 unit down! We need help!”

“Get an ambulance! (10-91C)!”

They probably continued, but Omega couldn’t hear them anymore: the new source of blood loss dove for it's respected pocket and returned with another tool. Forged from malice and used in desperation, it began the percussion for this deathly symphony.

"Shots fired!" 

His actions were returned with a superior barrage of bullets from the other side of the smoke, he’d just barely proceeded down the curvature of the smooth stone to break eyesight when a new, sharp pain bore into his thigh.

 

A raspy yelp was all he could produce, Omega’s right leg lost all sense of integrity, sending him into the wall in a desperate bid to stay on his feet, to stay moving.

 

The ruined arm applied whatever pressure it could muster on the hemorrhaging bullet wound, the undamaged appendage was forced to maintain its failing sister. Hunched over, completely defenseless, bordering incapacitation:

_‘Unequivocally Fucked.’_

But of course, as with any iteration for being ‘Absolutely Fucked’ it’d act as nothing more than spiteful fuel for his desperation to burn up. The thought of proving himself wrong once again inspired a second wind. Omega reared up for a final sprint.

But it wasn’t feasible, his adrenaline was already operating over capacity for acute exhaustion and bodily trauma. Still being able to limp in his state of agony was a miracle on its own, consciousness was becoming finite. All he could do was shuffle along the wall with the sounds of hate and vengeance already gaining on him.

 

Closer and closer, all of his grievances regrouped to catch his final, _hopeless_ push. Searchlights reorientated; the number of armed men on the plateau approached thirty, the sound of _more_ dogs rang under the haze of noise.

 

The collaboration of air units was even shorter than the last encounter however. Just as snipers took their aim: the target eluded them once again: when an opening in the cold stone invited him in. The secluded maw of ‘Mt Ebott, concealed behind a facade of successful ivy leaves. 

 

Omega’s life was draining from him, the cool air inside of the cavern was gaseous ice against the warm liquids leaking from his wounds. Coming here was a mistake, the damned room was no bigger than a classroom. The doomed man saw this place as a dead end, fitting for a coward: until he reached the center. There was another way out… but it’d be _out_ forever.

 

If the opening was the cave’s mouth, then this was the throat: the black pit stared at Omega… hungry. Omega returned the stare as the hole drew him in closer. He slouched precariously over the edge… it _was_ an option… and his _only_ option at that… in all of its deep;

Seemingly Endless,

Unbearably Uncertain,

_Comforting…_

_Enticing...._

_Alluring…_

_Desire._

 

“You're done, motherfucker!" 

“You’re finished, you son of a fucking bitch!" 

 

No more hesitation, the sound of weapons coming to life from behind rushed what choice he had left, he dove for his end headfirst: showing immediate gratification as the second hail of bullets would strike his limbs five times out of seventy six shots. 

 

This was one final addendum to the agony, obviously redundant, but greatly deserved. 

* * *

 

Then it was all gone, in the epicenter of hell, a sea of lights and sounds drifting alongside pain and fear, all of it was left on the surface, it’s moonlight shrinking with distance above.

 

The pain, fear, spite: gone. Overcome by the relief... his slowing pulse drummed weakly as a cadence over the rushing wind in his ears, he’d probably slipped into delusional unconsciousness before he hit the ground because what he perceived as an ‘impact’ when he finally did, it was soft and gentle: like landing on a cloud or the spongiest bed of flowers in the world.

Awareness diluted with his vision, stars of all colors began to fill his faltering perception. The yellow stars grouped together into something: it even spoke to him, a voice so sweet, yet almost sarcastic began to echo as Omega drifted off.

“What do we have here?  You poor thing, you look like you just had your-  hey,…  wait a minute... you’re not-”

The hallucination gasped suddenly before it was ousted away by a mass of red and orange, the heat was like the first wave from an oven. Everything went black immediately after, but the final sensation Omega could feel, was a presence of absolute welfare and comfort embracing him. Perhaps the consolation of death, it was surprisingly cozy and warm, banishing the remaining feelings of dread and anguish.

_S..o  w...a...r….m. . ._

 

*(...)*

* * *

* * *

* * *

 

**117.34(Chnl3), 121.19(Chnl6), & 132.83(Chnl 13) **

“We need medical teams up here _NOW!_ There was a (10-71) on the mountain! (10-91C) multiple K9 units are down! I repeat, K9 units _down!_ (11-41) Requesting _IMMEDIATE_ assistance!”

“Can _someone_ get the frequencies of these goddamned news choppers?! I can’t move up here!”  
“Where did he go!? Dispatch, we’ve lost visual on the suspect! Repeat, he’s in some sort of crevice or something- I don’t know! But he’s _GONE!_ ”

“Can _anyone_ give an update on Omega?! He just vanished! Hello? Anyone?!”  
“This is a real shitstorm! I don’t know where he went! Get the whole mountain or something!”

“How could he disappear, What kind of hot bullshit is this?!   _Someone’s_ gotta-”

 

The radio was saturated with similar messages burdened with anxiety, most of them had the same idea though. ‘Suspect Omega had gotten away.’

The confused and angry voices continued to spill from the scanner promptly resting on a white desk, the occupant behind it reached to turn the black box off.

 

“CTD SA Lunezo Mordegrid” Rested on a name template next to the radio, Mordegrid let out a quivering and prolonged sigh as he sat back in his chair and twiddled his thumbs. He shared the silence with a group of suits facing his desk.

“ _FUCK_!”

 

The man shot out of his chair and pounded his desk with both hands sending various pens to the floor and spilling a mug with stale coffee.

 

One of the spectators showed similar outrage, “That’s not possible! We had him at a dead end, he’s gotta turn up behind a rock or lying dead on the ground, there’s no way he-”

 

Mordegrid continued on his rant accompanying each burst of profanity with another assault on the desk. “Son of a _fucking, BITCH!_!” Mordegrid sat back in his chair and shakily reset his mug on top of the cold liquid before leaning back and placing his hands on his forehead.

 

He leaned forward again to face the crowd in his office, “What was I thinking? He just shows up out of nowhere, in nowhere, and goes to nowhere, and we got nowhere … he just played us for fucking idiots again… this was obviously staged and I took the bait.”

 

Another agent chimed in “Sir this doesn’t mean the pursuit is over, the teams just lost visual sight of him, we have multiple air units not to mention entire forces from three states over so-”

 

“Cut the bullshit Ferkinzie, if you’re supposed to tell me that it was impossible to lose him because of what’s over there, then how the hell could he vanish in the first place?” Mordegrid edged closer to the man with each word- “Just-like-that, .. hmm?”

 

The man tried to retaliate, “Sir please, we don’t know that he-”

 

“Exactly! They don’t know where he is because he got away just like has has been for nine years! It’s a goddamned conspiracy is what it is!”

 

The special agent motioned to the press-board littered with papers: leads, clues, and incriminating photos.

“This guy’s been at the top of the domestic terrorism list since 2006, and the resources we’ve put to taking him down are almost as costly as the damage he’s caused… and we still don’t even have his _name_ for Christ's sake. Even yet, every time we get the public in a panic when he turns up only for it to end just like _this_ , the D.H.S wants to cut our fucking funding and just _give up!”_

A quick swipe sent the press-board onto the floor, tacks and papers scattered.

 

The captain sat down in his chair for a third time caressing  his nose bridge with his fingers and let out a long sigh. “You know, If he had a towel on his head, we’d have the whole country behind us, but no… he’s not related to Osama or anything like that, just an american born bad guy. ‘Domestic Terrorists’ aren’t _real_ terrorists or anything.”

 

Another long sigh, he seemed more or less apathetic now.

 

“Try to put the whole story together with the teams, I need to make some calls: get scolded by the department, clear the EAS… you all know the drill by now.”

 

The group of distraught agents vacated the room, one of them bent over to pick up the clippings.

 

“Just leave it, they’re useless now anyways.”

 

The man dropped the clutter and left closing the door behind him leaving Mordegrid alone in the drone of the air conditioner. Mordegrid opened the bottom drawer of his desk and brought a small glass and a bottle of bourbon to the top.

After pouring the poison up to the brim on the glass he brought the scanner back to life and reintroduced the chaotic chatter to his office.

 

“We’ve got a 10-53, 10-91c, suspect has evaded police forces, repeat suspect has evaded police forces, requesting an ambulance on site, canine unit down!”

 

Mordegrid downed the drink and reached for the phone on his desk, “I just get _all_ the shit, not for the guy who actually deserves it- no, he magically vanishes in a cave."

A little quip of sarcasm for the journey ahead.

"But I guess I should've expected it, that's where monsters live anyways....

He's home now." 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EAS BROADCAST Transcript:  
> *Broadcast Starts*
> 
> This message is being broadcasted at the request of the state sheriff’s department and the United States Department of Homeland Security.
> 
> At 1:17 AM EST. State Police Identified a Suspicious person entering the Ebott County Border
> 
> The descriptions of this person have been deemed credible in matching with the description of ‘Suspect Omega’ provided by the FBI’s Most Wanted list.
> 
> Suspect Omega is wanted for acts of domestic terrorism.
> 
> All Residents of Ebott county are advised to shelter in place IMMEDIATELY, Lock all Doors; Windows, and other entrances, and keep children and pets inside.
> 
> In accomplice with the recent and established descriptions, ‘Suspect Omega’ is a caucasian male with dark brown hair, an estimated height between 5 ft 10 in - 6 Feet tall with a noticeably slender build.
> 
> The most defining features of ‘Suspect Omega’ are; a series of scars traversing the right eye, nose bridge, and left lip to cheek: RED to GRN complete heterochromia: and a silver dental implant replacing a canine tooth.
> 
> ‘Suspect Omega’ was identified at the border wearing a; Black hoodie with red stripes down the sleeve, blue jeans, and black combat boots: driving a black 1996 Chevy Impala four door.
> 
> If you see anyone matching this description, DO NOT engage with them, as they are considered, armed, mentally unstable, and extremely dangerous.
> 
> At this time, law enforcement teams are currently inbound for Ebott county, the state has issued a travel ban for Ebott county and a restriction on all neighboring borders.
> 
> For your safety and the safety of the arriving officers, DO NOT attempt to leave the area or cross the borders by any means of travel.
> 
> The shelter in place and these restrictions will remain in effect until further notice, please stay tuned in or tune your radio to 39.2 for further instructions.
> 
> This message will repeat at 1:45 AM EST.
> 
> *End of Broadcast*


	2. Unmerited Hospitality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ＷＡＫＥ ＵＰ  
> Y̶o̶u̶ ̶m̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶y̶ ̶D̶E̶T̶E̶R̶M̶I̶N̶E̶D̶
> 
> Light returns to your gaze.  
> D  
> O  
> W  
> N
> 
> T  
> H  
> E
> 
> R  
> A  
> B  
> B  
> I  
> T
> 
> H  
> O  
> L  
> E
> 
>  
> 
> A strange world.  
> A strange woman.  
> Strange kindness,  
> For stranger injuries. 
> 
> Everything feels.. Strange. 
> 
> You already woke up.  
> So what is this Wonderland?  
> ̸a̷n̵d̴ ̵W̵H̶Y̶ ̷D̶O̶ ̴Y̷O̴U̴ ̶F̸E̸E̵L̷ ̶S̴O̵ ̷G̸U̴I̵L̵T̷Y̵?̴

II: Unmerited Hospitality:II

There were voices

 

“...growing stress on modern life and outside pressure can act as a breeding ground for these undesirable tendencies growing onto shoulders until unbearable, leading to an eventual breakdown in otherwise seemingly normal persons. However, our records here are all but eligible: providing such atrocities sustained during-”

 

The voice was burdened with apprehension.

“- that time?   _You did that?_ Jesus- how could you? I mean, by god: you proved it wasn’t impossible but: how do you even comprehend what you’ve done… and just why? How can so many… indescribable- _barbarities_ run through you without so much as a single-”

 

There was fleeting innocence in the voice.

“-moment to let me help you! You’re always telling _me_ to never give up “Oh yes, you gotta be _determined”_ and all that garbage, but here: you’re content with just sitting around in your own misery: brooding all day about giving up! You’re such a freaking hypocrite! Why don’t you ever get up-”

 

It was saturated with sorrow, the pain was unbearable.

“Get up, c’mon!  Please!”

“Don’t do this to me, cmon _please!”_

“ _Stop_ doing this - and… _just…_

_GET UP!!!”_

He did just that...

[Comfortable Ambience](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO2LvgjzgmQ)

Jerking up from the emptiness, leaving the echoing nightmare behind. Omega departed from the unconscious world, taking with him; lots of heavy breathing and a throbbing pulse in his ears.

It ceased, Omega retreated his head back to the warm pillow, letting relief slow down his rapid heart.

_It was just another nightmare, you are filled with relief._

An easy smile began to sprout on his face as he closed his eyelids again for more slumber, his mind repeated the mantra again as the bed began to feel more comfy.

“Just a dream… yeah….”  
“It was just… a bad dream…”

 

The lagging train of rational thoughts finally hit him,

“ _No_ it wasn’t!!”

 

He bolted upright again and in an attempt to process the new world around him, Omega inaugurated his first conclusion with audible words. Gruff and worn, with just a hint of discarded exuberance.

“What the fuck?! Where the fuck am I?!”

 

He sought to leave the bed: quite rapidly too, but the world wasn’t quite done spinning around his already heavy head. A sense of complete discombobulation and nausea forced him to sit back down, drowsily putting thoughts into words.

 

“Bad… idea-   _oooah-_ Jesus christ… my head.”

 

Whether he wanted to or not, Omega would have to take this as a moment to get his bearings.

_You tried to find your desperately needed marbles._

 

 "What the hell happened?...

Where am I?"

 

Another, more thoughtful scan of the room brought back more results: a small bedroom with furnishings intended for a child’s presence. That was obvious, suggested by the small bed adorned with plush animals and a toybox placed at its feet.

There was no finding where he was, Omega felt an improvement in his panic admitting that: wherever he was, it lacked impending demise. It was definite mark up from last night-

Last night!

 

The recollection wasn’t quite there yet, but the feelings that rushed into his mind were all too real. His heart feeling like it was about to explode, his ears aching from the noise, the feeling of hopelessness and dread when he heard that barking and-

_You remembered the teeth searing into your flesh..._

“Oh Fuck, My arm!”

_... the the bullet tearing into your leg too._

“My goddamned leg, shit!”

 

He was panicking again, his hands scrambled around to find the ruined appendages and-

-nothing.

 

No cuts or bullet holes: No bandages or signs of blood loss.

Did they ever exist?

 

They _had_ to have been real, their  mementos to their once life threatening prime times were real. Patches of scar tissue sketched in the shape of a rabid dog’s bite and a small radius of discoloration: nine millimeters, it complimented all of the others ones of varying sizes.

Normally, this would be a reassuring thing: having proof that you actually _did_ exist prior to waking up. But it had the opposite effect on Omega…

 

“I’m supposed to be _dead!_ Am I dead? Is this what being _dead_ is like?...

Here of all places?”

 

Then there was dread,

"No... I can't be alive,

I cannot be where I think I am... or anywhere

I _have_ to be dead."

 

Being potentially _deceased_ made him quite talkative.

_You’ll ignore the contradiction for now._

His own voice was the only thing he could confirm, still existed as far as he knew.

“ But I don’t _feel_ dead... 

 

 

He had to take another long look at his newly present scars: they didn’t even _hurt,_ nothing did. An inability to feel pain was the sure sign that this wasn’t reality.

Not even the slightest bit sore from the prolonged overexertion that may not have happened last night.

 

Staring at his healed injuries lead him to another method to nullify whatever composure he had left. He didn’t have to roll up a sleeve or pull down his pants to check the wounds because he wasn’t wearing any. His clothing was reduced to his undershirt and boxers, it only boosted the feeling of vulnerability and surrealism.

 

The same notions of the poor fortune of surviving the fall contradicted themselves.

 

There was a blatant lack of restraints and bindings doubling his weight festered to his body: these accommodations were unfeasible when thinking about who would've provided them... the government? The state sheriffs? 

 

And what kind of life threatening injuries heal within....

 

_You don't even know how long you were out... if you're not out anymore that is, unless you ARE out for good....  very confusing._

 

He looked to his feet (Stripped of his boots and socks: 9 toes. Normal enough) and slowly lifted himself up onto his legs. Wherever this was, he had to see if he could leave the room, there were too many pieces to put together, they hit his brain like broken glass.

 

He was able to make for the door, uncharacteristic to a nightmare where you find yourself lacking the strength and coordination to move... like wading through permanently aqueous cement.

 

But with a point suggesting consciousness came something laying on a porcelain dish just before the door to deny logic.

 

“It’s… pie?”

Indeed it was, a small slice of the good smelling desert rested on the plate, accompanied by a folded letter.

 

_Feel better soon! ❤❤❤  -Toriel._

 

“Toriel?... who the fuck is that? 

Do I know any Toriels? I'd have to if this was some kind of limbo...

 

_My head... it hurts."_

 

Could've been the name of a nurse at whatever hospital he was staying at, but that was probably as unlikely as the fact that he failed at suicide and survived. 

 

_You consider drugs coming into play, hallucinogenic psychosis is still psychosis._

 

The pie (or whatever was actually on the plate) didn’t seem appetizing for the self proclaimed patient right now. Instead, he went to prove his theory to ground himself into the lack of reality.

 

“Okay, if this is some deluded hospital room, this is gonna be locked."

To his dismay, the knob turned all the way.

 

_Its unlocked... you really don't have a clue._

 

 

* * *

 

The dim lights of the bedroom were overcome by the bright atmosphere of the world outside as the door creaked open.

Omega squinted his eyes as he stepped out into the hallway, the feeling of uneasiness lingered through the warm air. This wasn’t deluded vision of  a hospital or anything like it, it was someone’s _home._

 

It only added to the surreal feeling of a dream gone lucid: the inconsistency from last night, the overbearing friendliness of these accommodations, and really, the most unnerving aspect of this place: the looming feeling of ‘dé·jà vu’: It had to have been a memory, because it felt like everything was _supposed_ to be there.

 

He passed through the hallway: decorated by ornate plants, the stairs on the right led to the basement-

 

_You still don’t like them, your fear of basements as a child grew up with you._

 

-and facing the stairs was an exit.

He wanted to run out the front door, but as far as the familiar feeling went, he’d still have no idea where to go. It wasn’t even an ‘outside’ as just beyond the door lay soulless walls of purple bricks, a cavernous ceiling and two piles of leaves.

  _It may not be real, but it IS quite tidy, whoever Toriel is, they keep a clean place._

 

Then there was the den to complete the equivocal recollection of this place, an immaculate book shelf shouldering with the mantle: a fire crackling politely.

 

This place was far too nice to pose as a memory.

 

“Why do I feel like I’ve seen this before?”

The audible thought fell on two sets of ears.

 

“Oh, goodness! You’re awake! I guess _I_ am too now.” An ingenuous giggle rang from behind a large reading chair. The occupant’s identity was concealed by the equally sized headrest.

 

The sound of the feminine voice: it turned Omega’s blood into ice.i

_You're not alone._

 

The voice continued with even more exuberance. “For a silly old lady who worries too much, I’ve got my reasons: you gave me a real scare back there!” A relieved sigh finished this sentence.

Then it stood up: a rose tinted dream, or an immersive delusion: all bets were off now. It was becoming a nightmare. Omega was treated to a _really_ extensive look at his new companion. It wore a white bathrobe that matched its ‘complexion’, but that’s the only thing that actually processed, everything else failed, _refused_ to register.

 

Again, it spoke: looking down at the feeble man from its generous stature. “Thank goodness you’re okay, I wasn’t sure when you’d wake up or even _if_ you’d wake up. You sure were in a rough state when I found you, poor thing.”

(...)

_It’s rude to stare, you finally tried to say something._

Of the absolute chaos passing for “thoughts” Omega returned the inputs with a built in error message in the form of a composure ridden whisper through his twitching face.

“What… the- _fuck?_.”

 

The obscenity seemed to affect _whatever_ was staring at Omega, it nervously diverted its attention to the surroundings and eventually itself. Another cheerful, now awkward attempt for an introduction was made.

“Goodness me, where are my manners? Forgive me, my child. I’m Toriel, I watch over these parts, and this is my- _our_ home. I hope that’s better.” A nervous giggle this time preceded another warm smile.

 

Omega reasserted his disbelief, with more outrage this time:

“What, the _FUCK_!?”

 

Both of them were dumbstruck, neither of them had any idea what was going on. The white being was all but confused for the reception it was getting. The human before it was starting to look white too.

 

“What is it? What’s wrong my child?” It approached the bug eyed man in an attempt to console him, but the sight of it approaching him caused the man to retreat like a frightened dog.

 

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no…” His head shook definitely, the end of the hallway approached him from behind, his repetition of denials ended with a yelp as the dead end became relevant.

The fur cloaked beast sported a concerned look as it continued to grow closer, arms outstretched to grab him.

 

Omega’s legs gave  from underneath, he huddled onto the floor, arms hysterically shielding him from the horror approaching. A fear driven frenzy spilled from his quivering lips.

“Oh god, please _NO!!!_ Not again! _Please No! NOO!!”_

 

The towering nightmare stopped with a woe laden gasp, the hurt was visible from its change in tone. “Y-you’re afraid… of _me_ ? Child, please I’m not going to hurt you! I implore you, don’t be scared!”

It tried to fix the mistake of intrusiveness, “I would never hurt you, I swear!” But the petrified, _cowering_ mess on the ground took no notice to the statements, he only screamed from fright.

 

"Get _AWAY_ from me!

Leave me alone!!" 

 

The monster backed away at the realization, adding grief and self blame with the distance it made. “Child no!… I-I’m so sorry… Please don’t be… I’m n-not, I didn’t- mean to…”  A painful sigh dissolved into a woeful groan. Leaving both of them to their hysterical business.

 

The buildup to a recurring nightmare was without its climax, and when nothing further happened to the man after the dreadfully long moment of absolute terror: something was wrong.

 

“What the hell?... Ok…. what’s going on here?”

 

He could hear the self detriment mixed in with the upset creature’s gentle sobs.

“...so pathetic… I can’t even do _this_ right…”

 

Nightmares didn't leave you with time to think, they relied on giving you assumptions that you were terrified: but when Omega began to do just that... thinking.

This wasn't his nightmare awaiting him, it wasn't even enough to be a nightmare.

 

All it was... was gently sobbing into its claws.

 

_Nightmares don't give you a chance..._

_Nightmares don't have feelings...._

_and Nightmares... don't cry..._

 

He put this theory to the test, the only thing he could think of doing... Omega got to his feet, and approached his fear. 

 

 

The benign monster continued to berate itself quietly. It was too immersed in its sadness to notice the human approaching it for a change.

“... just again… it’s my fault … it was my fault to start-”

An unsteady hand gently grasped one of the monster’s claws, both of them shuddered from the contact. The damp faced thing looked up from its self loathing.

 

Nervous as all hell, Omega challenged this "Nightmare", he softened his approach: a contrast to how he was feeling, a deep breath lead to the point of no return.

 

“It’s not your fault-”

Upsetting it wouldn’t have worked in his favor, if it could cry, then maybe there was more behind the fangs, horns, and claws.

“-It’s.. mine… I’m sorry... I-I... I  didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

 

The monster returned an expression of genuine surprise, it stood up, gaining two feet over Omega at the very _least._ Its eyes were were still glassy and wet, like a sad puppy.

 

Omega felt the apprehension rising with the creature’s height again, a hard swallow guided his next meek question. It was as unsteady as his composure. 

"You didn't go after me.... I didn't think that was going to happen like so many times before.... why?  


What are you going to do to me? Is this all some trick?"

 

Once again, the creature was taken back by this assumption, it dropped its woes for a defensive outcry. “Oh my stars, _No!_ Why would you ever think of such an awful thing?”

 

He had more confidence knowing that the thing spoke perfect English.

“Because I have no idea what else to be besides confused and just _LOST_ to the point of…. I don’t even know! , I have no idea what’s going on, or _why_ , and then I see _you_ coming towards me down a hallway, so forgive me for acting on impulses: but they’re all I’ve got right now.

But this… what’s - what is all of _this?_ What _are_ you?

What am _I_ anymore?

Give me _anything_ , please!” 

 

The creature sighed, then nodded slowly. “It’s OK my child, you are confused, but you are also safe here, I promise that. My name is Toriel, this is my-our home, I am the caretaker for the Ruins, I watch for anyone who may fall down here. You weren’t conscious when I found you, so I carried you here and mended your injuries.”

Toriel sprouted another grin, it was weaker, deceptive. “Like I said before, you’ve had me worried sick from the moment I saw you lying in the flowers. I’ve never seen a human like you fall down here before, so _big,_ so _different,_ so…”  
She shivered. Her eyes seemed to leave the man for a moment, gazing into themselves through a silvery medium on the wall.

 

“-Hurt.

 

The explanation only created more questions, Omega was feeling less sure about his senses by the second.

“Wait-wait-wait… you found me after I jumped... and I was all fucked up?-”

Omega brandished the new scars to Toriel.

“- these… all open and bloody… you found me like that? The bottom of a pit?”

 

Toriel nodded awkwardly, looking more life-like with a half raised brow. “Yeess? I almost considered you were dead, but then I saw the petals near your face moving. When I knew you were still breathing: I had to act fast, you were bleeding… all over yourself… all over me too actually.”

 

Another weak giggle, then a bit of humbleness.

 

“That’s actually why I’m dressed like this, um.. Well why _we’re_ like this? I didn’t want it… the uh blood, to dry up and stain our clothes and well _me._ So I gave them a scrub and took a bath for myself, we’re still drying. I hope you don’t mind.”

 

There she was again, smiling nervously at Omega. Her answers only worsened his unrest.

_The thought that Toriel Undressed you fills you with EMBARRASSMENT._

 

He had almost ceased the hyperventilation, but with dithering carbon dioxide: the panic was returning to his voice with a series of hastened pants.

“Wait- wait- please… you- I - did this- and I was- I’m…”

( _oh my god)_

He forced a deep breath, and let it out hard.  

“-Is this real?!   _Are you REAL?!”_

 

Toriel suppressed a snicker like a cough, looking sly at the panicking human. “What? My child, of course _I’m_ real, I’m as real as you. What kind of a silly question is that?”

The human blankly nodded, “So I’m told… I think I gotta find out what that means… oh boy.”

Omega examined one of his hands and, without any indication or warning to the maternal like creature: chomped down on his thumb, silver fang tearing through the skin.

 

_You regret doing that instantly._

 

It hurt like hell,

He winced, yelling internally from the pain: some of it slipped out.

“Gnhgh! Son of a- _bitch!”_

 

Toriel added to the outburst, “ _What_ are you doing?!”

 

Quickly procured faintness groaned in his voice.“I had to make sure- this wasn’t a dream- you _can’t_ get hurt in your dreams… god am I wrong.”

 

Omega arrested his heart from exploding out of his frantically rising chest, the ‘real’ world seemed much heavier than the ‘fake’ world. So much that he couldn’t hold his balance anymore, Toriel would take the burden of keeping him off the floor.

“My goodness! Are you alright?”

 

Omega looked up drowsily, still slouched against the large creature’s bosom: Drunk with realization. “I don-neven know naymore ...  how long’v-Vie been here? Will that make sense at least?"

 

“I think about twelve hours or so, are you alright? Here let me feel you.” She rested a claw on Omega’s forehead: cold and clammy, stressful perspiration.

_You feel something strange, nice… but strange._

Omega shivered briefly, quickly separating himself from Toriel, “I’m fine!... I’m fine- I think...  I don't know what to think actually..."

 

Toriel sighed sadly. “My child… if only you would trust me… let me see it.”

 

_The fact that she keeps calling you a ‘child’ is starting to bug you._

 

Omega held the closed fist to his mouth, a skeptical face protested Toriel’s request,

“I’m _sorry_ but this isn’t normal for me, I’m not a-”

 

“Your thumb, _let me see it_.” The stern command in her tone actually bore fruits, Omega reluctantly relinquished the damaged digit to Toriel. Blood trickled from the jagged, self inflicted puncture.

 

“- what are you going to do, Kiss it or something? I keep telling you I’m fi-"

 

What Omega witnessed next dealt a final blow to his logic: it was _green._ Toriel closed her eyes, clasping the injured finger with her white claws. Both of them began to glow. The independent streak of blood rescinded its path, returning to the hole only before it closed up completely.

 

“There, all better.” She returned Omega’s hand for him to gawk at.

 

A flabbergasted whisper.

“Holy…

Fucking…

Shit…”

 

He took another look at last night’s ‘confirmed’ injuries, an ironic state of shock considering Toriel just prevented it.

“Did you… do _this,_ to these?... like that?”

 

“That was easy to fix, your arm and leg were a little more exhausting for me actually. When I finally stopped your bleeding, I was exhausted-"  


Modesty blushed on her face.

“-But yes, I did the same to heal you.”

 

“How?

How can you do this?"

 

Toriel genuinely smiled this time, shaking her head smugly.

“Dear child, so many questions. I wish I could put your troubles to rest with the answers you crave, but our world sometimes cannot be answered, only embraced. I think an open mind can suite you far better than an explanation.”

 

Omega scrunched with skepticality. “Is that your way of telling me, ‘It’s Magic? or something?"

 

Toriel nodded and giggled. “Well.. in a way, yes! Healing magic to be specific.”

 

Omega lost his facial expression. There was no further conversation for a prolonged moment, only a defeated human looking around his surroundings and nodding out of spite for his crazy world.

“Uh-huh… uh-uhhh…”

 

The mirror on the wall returned a perfect vision of his current life. The man within glazed over at Omega. His new scars complimented the old ones strewn all over his appendages and face. Charcoal brown hair dominated his head, unkempt and shaggy on the top while grown up stubbles ran down his pale cheeks, pooling under his neck.

 

The reflection sighed scornfully at Omega, then a spiteful but calm brooding voice came out of it.

“So let me get this straight…:

 _This_ all of this… is _very_ real,

I am not dead, or close to it, but quite, so _very_ alive…

I try to kill myself, it takes my whole world going to absolute shit to get there,

but I’m actually able to pull it off. And I jump down a into a pit…

hoping I can splatter my brains all over a rock at the bottom…

 _Only_ to be prevented so by a.-”

 

The fur covered companion in the mirror fed the information as he relayed it.

**“- eight foot tall**

**Anthropomorphic,**

**Sentient,**

**_English_ ** **speaking,**

**_Magical,_ **

**Goat Lady,**

**Who lives under the very mountain I jumped down.”**

 

Then he turned to Toriel, the scarred side of his mouth half conformed into an aggravated grin, complete with involuntary eye twitching.

“Is that right, that’s what I’m getting?”

 

The sheer insensitivity was enough to humble the wrong person in this conversation, Toriel could’ve reddened further out of insult and lack of gratitude, but the concern for this rude human overrode that.

“Wait, you were trying to _kill_ yourself?”

 

Omega paid no attention to her, he just laughed out of pure disbelief and denial. A wheezing laugh, broken into sets as his head lightly collided with the mirror in rudiments.

“That’s juuuust about right there!-

-Ayep!-

-Of course!-

-I’m not _allowed_ to die!-

-because shit like  _this_ happens!-

-Because FUCK ME, that’s why!”

 

Again, “You were trying to kill yourself?!”

The groundskeeper's genuine concern was an affront to the man lost in his own grievances, he snapped at her out of frustration.

 

“ _Yes!_ I was! I didn’t lunge headfirst down a goddamned mountain’s orifice into the void expecting to brush it off!”

 

Toriel could raise her voice too, “But my child, _why?_ There’s never a reason in the whole world to take a life away, especially your own!”

 

“ _Child?!_ I am _not_ a freaking child! I’m forty-six years old! Look at me! 

 

You obviously have _no_ idea who you’re talking to, if you knew then you wouldn’t have saved me!

 

In fact, I think I remember being shot at even after I jumped, because they wanted to be  _sure_ I'd fucking die!

 

Nobody in their right mind would second a doubt to that!"

 

The anger cooled into a depression quite suddenly.

 

“I just wanted all of this shit to stop... and so did they, you would've too if you knew me."

 

Omega’s self apologetic rant could’ve continued forever, the putrid byproduct leaking out of a shot mind….

 

….instead, a set of fur covered arms discontinued the troubles, they embraced him tightly. The contact caused him to shiver violently, it only led the soft hold to squeeze him tighter.  

 

“That’s enough… you obviously don’t know _me_ enough, anyone who falls here are my children: no matter how big or how old or how they look. And I care very deeply for all of my children, especially _you._ ”

 

_You feel a little less restless…  but grossly uncomfortable_

 

It was so... _calming_ but Omega still tried to escape the warm hold physically.

 

It was like being restrained by a behemoth teddy bear: he wasn’t going anywhere, so he tried words.

 

“No! What’re you- _doing?!_ \- you don’t understand, I don’t deserve this!

You don’t know what I am!

I _don’t-”_

 

He was quieted, ceasing the noise so Toriel could whisper in that maternal tone to soothe aching souls.

“Shhhhhh, shhhh…. it’s okay, my child. You’ve had enough already, there’s no need for more hurt. I’ll keep you right here until you can feel safe. We can sit here forever if we need to.”

There was no fighting it, Omega would be gradually lulled by Toriel’s coddling nature, previous premonitions about her had to assuage eventually.

 

_You feel the world being squeezed off of your shoulders… you feel… better?_

It felt like forever, Omega accepted his surroundings long before he’d confirm them: he didn’t want the feeling to go away just yet... he’d just been asleep for half of a day, but he was starting to feel drowsy.

 

Eventually he had to speak before Toriel would find him as vigorous as he was before in the flowers, except snoring this time.

“Okay… I’m good. I’m calm.”

 

“Are you sure, my child? Any more grief?"

 

Omega exhaled a fragment of tranquility, “No no, I think that’s gone now.”

 

Toriel finally released the man from her embrace, back to a genuine smile too.

 

“Well good, why don’t we head into the den and sit down for a spell? Now that you’re feeling better: maybe you can share a bit about yourself. I’ve been puzzling over you since I laid my eyes on you.”

* * *

 

It felt good to sit down, not lying down unconscious or perpetually running away, but just sitting down.

“So... What do you want to know about me? I’ve probably given you a bunch to question-

like the story behind this?-”

His right arm pointed to the respective ear, a large portion of it was missing, like a wild animal had just gnawed it clean off.

 

Toriel shook her head politely “Actually I wanted to-”

 

“-These? I’ve been stared at for em if you want to be funny-”

 

Omega’s red and green irises were blamed with an accusative “I’m watching you” gesture.

 

“No, that’s not what I-”

 

“No? _Ohh,_ you want to know why I drew all over myself? These things huh? Well someone else did those-”

Omega held both of his arms flush against the dining table, a snake of bullets coiled beside a serial code on the bite scarred limb. **(03[-AR-7:BR-26]-19)**

The tattoos were almost as abundant as the scars they glazed over. Black and gray images of similar malice slinked out from the short sleeves, proceeding to rest on the flip side of his hands.

“- Hell, I don’t even remember some of these.”

 

Toriel rolled her eyes, perturbed, “ _Noo,_ if you could let me finish my-”

 

He didn’t, “Oh right, my gross fingers, guess I shouldn’t be showing these off, trauma induced Clinodactyly is what I like to call them.”

Out of all nine and a half of his fingers, none of them were straight, but Toriel didn’t seem to mind them as much as their owner’s interruptions.

 

“Child _Please!_ This is just what I’m concerned about! I do not care for something as insignificant as how you _look_ , I don’t see you for that.”

  
_Funny, that’s how you judged Toriel… it’s humorous, not guilty._

Omega humbly shrank into the chair, “But… what is it then? I _know_ I’m different, I _know_ I look like a freak. Look at me, I got all sorts of stuff off about me, take your pick.”

 

Toriel had migrated from the opposite end of the table to be within shoulder grasping distance, it sought for maintained eye contact: she noticed before how her guest was having difficulty holding it.

“Child… you _are_ different, that’s what makes you unique, what makes all of my children special to me. But when I first saw you, amidst the flowers, it wasn’t your blood nor your hands, arms, feet or _anything_ like that---(The injuries _did_ frighten her a trifle)

It was your face… and _no_ not the color of your eyes or anything like that… but the expression on it.-”

 

She was able to gaze through Omega’s eyes, seeking what gave them the ability to see, Toriel shuddered sadly.

 

“- all I could see was misery… such cold misery- and burden, I saw it in your eyes before you were awake… I saw it in your eyes when you cowered away from me…

 

And when I held you…  I could _feel_ it, it was so _strong_ … I have never witnessed such a powerful well of _grief_  inside of   _anyone_ let alone my children before.-”

_That  peculiar expression on her face… it fills you with heartache._

 

“-you even tell me how you wanted to kill yourself. I know it’s there… and so I wanted to- I _need_ to ask you-

 

**What has the world above done to you?”**

 

Omega felt himself pausing, out of the unexpectedness of the question, out of the futility of one _single_ answer: he stalled.

“Oh…”

One of his crooked hands felt the gentle grasp of a claw, the puppy dog eyes too…

It pushed another response

“... that…”

 

_That look in her eyes, it fills you with GUILT… you feel your sins becoming increasingly buoyant._

Under normal circumstances, this’d be the definitive moment where the man would spin a grand tapestry, a story of the cruel nature of the world. Leaving one unfortunate soul to receive empathy. He hadn’t gotten away on just sheer force…

But he was speaking to a sympathetic matriarch esque goat who’d already put him as the victim: there wasn’t any room for imagination.

 

_The guilt has clouded your mind, you feel incapable of LYING._

So he didn’t…

“Well… I… uhm…”

He reset his rambling with an unsteady sigh: now nervous _and_ gloomy, he presented his case.

“Alright… you won’t like it: I know I don’t, but If you’re real, then I guess I gotta be real with you, here goes:

 

I… am in trouble: a _lot_ of trouble. So much trouble that… _others:_ you know, up there: would like very much to: More than _anything_ in the world to get me.

That’s why I’m here: somebody recognized my face and all it’s deformities… they showed up within _minutes_ … I- I just couldn’t shake the heat last night. It was too much, the lights… the cops… the dogs-”

He smiled ironically, shaking his head in spite, it looked painful, he started to sound painful too…

 

“- it's really hard to like yourself when the world hates you y’know? It took severe hemorrhaging and exhaustion for me to come to my senses and give everyone, *Myself too* what they want. I climbed up a mountain trying to get away… and when I found a crevice leading to nowhere, I _actually_ thought that I’d gotten there.”

He managed to hold the straight facade, Toriel had cupped her other claw over her mouth out of shock: Omega assumed that it’d happen, he smirked woefully.

 

“Heh, I know… It’s not what the world did to _me,_ but what _I_ did to the world. You really don’t want to know… _I_ wish that I didn’t know, if you can believe that. Almost as much as I wish I could just get away from people, just so they wouldn’t lose any sleep over me anymore.”

 

The smirk died, both of them shared pained expressions.

 

“ Like I said, it’s not your fault…  that you wasted your time and feelings on me… but I’m just a  **bad guy** : and I can’t even do that right.

 

If you could _feel_ that: what’s inside of me? … I must be guiltier than I thought… real bad guys don’t have guilt… they hide it. But I guess I’m _different,_ I’m a dysfunctional bad guy.

 

What happened last night was a mistake…

This is a mistake…

I’m… a mistake.”

 

The man buried his face into his culpable hands.

 

“I understand if you’ll hate me for this, and I’ll be more than happy to leave: it’d be for the best anyways… I don’t want them to relate you to me. I’ll only bring you more trouble than I’m already worth.

I’m… Sorry, Toriel.”

Omega stood up, motioning towards the front door,

“Is where you found me through here? Maybe If I wait by the hole, they’ll take me and won't even bother going any further, I won’t mention you.. Well even if I did, they wouldn’t believe me, but you get the crux.”

 

Time for an objection,

“Hold it right _there!_ ”

 

Omega didn’t have to turn back to face her, she took the liberty of blocking his path: claws resting assertively on her hips.

“The only thing I hate right now, is how you keep putting words in my mouth! You are _not_ a mistake, you are _not_ a bad guy, and you are _not_ going anywhere! Not if _I_ can help it, child.”

“But Tor-”

 

“Shush! It’s my turn now. If I hear one more peep of doom and gloom out of you, I _will_ hug you again. Got it mister?”

Omega was forced to stifle a laugh out of the sheer absurdity of it.

 

_Being scolded like this makes you feel like a kid again… boy you’re really uncomfortable now._

 

She continued with supporting sternness and sass.

“Now, if anybody is coming after you, they’ll have to see to _me_ first. I won’t have _anything_ nor _anyone_ harming _my_ children. Hmph!”

 

_She  just crossed her arms, you know that you’re not gonna win this argument. But you try anyways._

 

“But… why? I don’t understand: why are you doing this?

 

 I’ve never seen you before in my life, and I _know_ that I’d be able remember something like this till the day I die, easily. You’ve never seen me before… and even now I just flat out admitted that I’m a wanted criminal,

Why are you being so nice to me, I don’t deserve _any_ of this.”  

 

He _was_ warned: but that cuddly “ _Huggly”_  feeling was still surprising nevertheless.

 

“That’s why, my child…

I have never seen the world above, but I know so much about it, from every child given upon me. How it can do such mean things to such beautiful children, bruising their once endless hopes…

And while I know that I cannot change the world, to prevent it from doing this… I know that I can take them away from the hurt, nurture their hopes with kindness and love.”

 

She gave Omega some slack from herself, just to rest a claw on his clammy cheek, staring into his juvenile like eyes.

 

“And you… are no exception. No matter how big you are, or what you may have done. You’ve come to me with hurt inside of you, and I want to help.”

 

_See? Either you’re gonna run out of things to say, or this lady is going to lull you to sleep. She wins either way._

 

“Alright Toriel… alright. You got me. I’ll stop with my loathsome. You’re already helped with that.”

 

She was more hesitant to let the man go this time.

“You sure? I won’t let you off easy this time if you’re just saying that to make me happy.”

 

Omega had to snort a fragment of a snicker, sounding amused would help his case too.

“Noo no, you _really_ got me this time, you got all of the sad I can throw atcha, honestly.”

 

The skeptical nature of Toriel’s answer to that meant she didn’t buy it.

“ Mmm hmm- Is that why you’re still shivering like that?”

 

It really wasn't,

“Uh no, actually… I’m going to say that that’s because I just realized something really awkward that’s getting worse the longer you keep me this close to you.”

 

Toriel had more concern for something genuine. “What is it my child? What’s wrong?”

 

Omega wasn’t lying about the growing awkwardness it started to make him laugh out of habit.  
“Well.. um… oh god…

 

So you’ve got me right here, _pretty_ close to ya, it’s fine and all but… when I take a look at you and me I realize that well…

 

I’m in nothing but my briefs and this undershirt…

You’re in a bathrobe…

Both of us are like… only one step above being naked.

And we’re both right against each other?”

 

It was now awkward _silence,_ Omega would’ve been more concerned with the social normalities of a goat monster over the potential wrongness of this if he couldn’t see Toriel turning quite very red.

“ _Oh Goodness Heavens!!!”_

 

* * *

 

(...)

“My god, you even fixed the holes? You’re probably already tired of this but, you _really_ didn’t have to do that, Toriel. I really don’t know what to say.”

 

When the monster urgently left the man, returning fully clothed, _with_ clothes, Omega would almost fail to recognize his own stuff. They weren’t as bloody, muddy, or ratty as he remembered.

_They can’t be *yours*, they don’t smell like desperation…  fresh spring essence._

 

The red gradually faded off of Toriel’s face, seeing the guy putting on his pants.

“Yes, I really don’t care for anything untidy in my home, I don’t know how you-”

A skeptical look coming her way made her change course.

 

“- _anyone,_ anyone can: it’s… a habit of mine.”

The human would give yet another confused frown rather than gratitude, hiding his deformed hands in his now complete pockets

 

He sighed awkwardly.

“ I really don’t want to sound bad, it’s like the _last_ thing I’d want to do for you, but… is this all you found on me?

Again, you don’t know how glad I am that I don’t have to walk around without pants, but this isn’t some delusion of mine, and I know I had stuff with me, they were weighing me down last night while I was… y’know… running?”

 

_That face… she knows exactly what you’re talking about… it’s bothering her too._

 

Toriel stuttered trying to hold an oblivious expression, “Right… it was your, uh, your- your… um.-”

 

“A hooded sweatshirt… black and it had a red stripe going down a sleeve, I had it over this shirt, yes?”

 

Again, more stuttering: breaking the flow of speech into awkward cuts of words, “Um yes! I was just getting…. To- that. My habits and all?

So how I can’t stand anything…. Uhmm

_Dirty?-”_

 

Omega just followed with it. “Uh-huhhh?”

 

The garment must’ve made her _really_ uncomfortable, she was all over the place.

“- _Well…_ I was able to clean your boots and jeans fine, but your hoodie was a little too-”

 

A skittish squeak behind a counterfeit grin-

 

“-Dirty? I had to throw it away.”

 

It was the first excuse for Omega to act accordingly to Toriel, no matter how petty it could’ve been.

 

The disappointment was there and then some. “Are you serious?”

 

“I’m sorry, there was just so much blood, not to mention how ripped up it was! I wouldn't be able to save it!"

 

A couple of thing about that upset Omega, but he only sounded off about the most unusual aspect.

“No, it’s fine then… I don’t want any sorry's from you: I’m the last person who deserves a sorry then, especially from you, OK?

I _am_ a bit bugged about this, but you know what, it’s fine….

Well that may or may not be true actually depending on if you... -”

 

Omega tentatively leaned while his train of thought came into closure: something had a spot in his vision for a while and it came into relevance.

 

_You see exactly what you may be  quite possibly talking about…   recognizable black bag, previously hiding behind Toriel’s chair._

 

Abruptly

“- have _that._ Is that mine?”

 

Now, Toriel even gasped taking a look behind her at the thing.

“Errr… yes?”

 

Omega impulsively went for his things, but Toriel barreled for the chair: almost knocking the man to the floor.

 

“NO!”

 

That wasn’t suspicious at all, not enough to give both of them doubts about each other. Not enough to give Omega a squint in his standstill.

 

“The hell was that? No what? I’m pretty damn sure that that’s mine…”

 

Still an untrusting criminal, the large zipper plenty duffel bag was right in front of the chair where Toriel’s voice originated from. A perfect spot to snoop inside while the owner was in the other room, doubting his sanity.

 

Omega was direct, accusative with just the unsure tone to escape being completely rude.

“You weren’t- you didn’t look in there… did you?”

 

_That’s a dumb question, if she did: she would’ve been afraid to even look at you._

 

Toriel clutched the heavy thing nervously, wide eyed and anxious.

“What? Oh no!”

Now she sounded very sure of herself, as if she didn’t manically intercept the personal belonging. Those pauses too, she was sure of those.

 

“No no no, that would be very rude of me. I just…  wanted to get it for you, child. It wouldn’t be very nice of me to make you walk all the way to it.”

 

_Uh-huh… is that sweat beading on her forehead?_

 

“You mean all of eleven feet…”

 

“Of course! No matter the distance, I take care of my children!”

 

He could’ve challenged it, he _wanted_ to, but it just didn’t seem wise right now. Toriel obviously wanted to end the matter on it, so it slid for now.

“Oookay then…?

Well could you _care_ to let me have my things back?”

 

Considering the faces he was getting…

Toriel had to have known what was inside, and the hesitation on her behalf would be her processing the urge to burn the thing or not.

“Uh sure! Here you… go.”

 

Omega snatched the thing out of Toriel’s grasp, he’d forgotten how heavy it actually was, seeing her handle it without showing any signs of weight.

 

_Weight seems normal, if she did sneak a peek, that’s all she did, No souvenirs taken._

 

“Thanks… if this is all my stuff, then you know what I’m going to ask you then?”

* * *

 

She knew the question was coming hours ahead, it couldn’t have surprised her, but it still put a heavy frown on her face, she tried to discard it for something hopeful.

“Oooh… I know exactly what you want to say, but … I can help you right here! You don’t have to be afraid ever again, I can take care of you, you won’t have to ever worry about the humans on the surface.

I can keep you safe!”

 

Omega sternly shook his head with a shut down.

“Toriel… that’s not-”

 

Toriel came down to the man’s height, falling to her knees, clasping her claws together to finish the gesture of supplication

“Please! It doesn’t matter how old you are or how big! You are still my child and I can care for you, we can be happy here! You can trust me!

Please… don’t leave me.” 

 

_You feel a great urgency to say something, ANYTHING before the tears, you really can’t bear to see those eyes again._

 

Omega swallowed a lump, aided by confusion.

“I don’t understand, didn’t others fall down here before me? Where are they?”

 

Toriel averted any sorrow she procured… and instead glared into Omega, her expression was something the grizzled man could’ve deemed improbable.

That’s when she spoke in such a brooding tone, not that it didn’t care… it sounded incapable of doing so.

 

“ _They…_ are all dead.

 _They…_ left me just like you’re trying to.-”

 

Omega took a step back from the monster, instincts snapped back into him as the air began to feel abrasive.

“What?

What did you do to them?!”

 

Toriel arrested both of the man’s shoulders in a quick dash, knocking the wind out of him while sending the dufflebag to the floor, it answered with a collection of metallic

**_(KLAKS!)_ **

 

“ _-Me?!_

 _I_ did nothing but selfless kindness and love for _all_ of them!

 _I_ gave them a home!

 _I_ treated them like my own children!

 _I_ did nothing but coddle them-”

 

This was back to being a nightmare, the white monster’s rant grew increasingly violent, the rage was heating up inside of her.

Outside too.

 

_You feel sweat rushing from your pores, it’s not you… it's HER._

 

“And they still wanted to leave me _so_ badly and for what?! Some world that’s so horrible that people like _you_ would kill themselves just to get away!?”

 

She glared furiously at Omega, it wasn’t a rhetorical question from the looks of it. He answered a question with a question, “ _What the fuck are you talkin_ _g about!?-”_

 

_You feel the hairs on your arms start to singe, she is LITERALLY burning you!_

_“_ Are you gonna combust or something?! Let go of me ! You’re gonna give me first degree burns!”

 

Toriel was far past being kind enough for that.

“Listen to me you fool!

I have seen no less than eight of my children _DIE_ because of _HIM!_

It goes the same every time, I let them leave me, and then… he.. HIM.

He… _KILLS_ them!

He _KILLED_ them, and _YOU_ , you are no different, he will do the same and they… _HE…_ will kill you!”

 

All Omega could do was mindlessly blurt out the only word in his trembling mind.

“ _Who?!”_

 

“ _Asgore!_ He will _KILL_ you just like he has _ALL_ of my children-”

 

Without any call, Toriel’s rage tumbled into a woebegone cry.

“- It’ll just happen again and _again!_ And it will be all my fault just like it has been every time!

Just why?!

Why does this keep happening?

Why do all of them want to leave me so bad?

Why can’t I… just… save… one?”

 

With that, Omega saw the look in her eyes, he braced for it: the hold was almost suffocating.

 

If Toriel squeezed her living stress toy with just the slightest more force, it probably could squeak like one too.

 

It hurt, Omega was forced to use his remaining oxygen in a shot to earn more of it. Strained, he tried to comfort her.

“It’s… not y _ou -_ th-oo-ugh!.”

 

Wrong way, it only tightened her grip on him,  a series of ( _pops!)_ traversing the human’s spine assured that it was possible.

“You’re...  h-hurting… M-mee!”

 

Password accepted, Toriel unlocked her arms: giving both of them a special type of gasp: One out of surprise, and one in need of air.

Omega pulled at his burning collar, wheezing softly.

“Jesus… Christ.”

 

“Oh no, child!

I-I am so sorry!

I-I-.”

 

A hand commanded the spiraling monster to stop the rambling, as well as a potentially lethal return to the air deprived man.

“Stop…-” *A wheeze*

“-You stay right there please-” *A moment of labored breathing to fill up his light head.*

(...)

 

“- Thank you… now, at the risk of being strangled again, I feel the need: for my safety of all things: to explain myself.

Actually, I probably should’ve started with this instead of feeling sorry for myself, but the inevitable bruises I’m gonna have seem to be punishment enough, but… alright-”

 

_The wet puppy dog eyes again…._

 

“-Toriel please… I keep telling you, ‘It’s not your fault.’ and believe me when I tell you that It’s not something I just came up with to appease you,

I _have_ to get out of here, not because I _want_ to… yes I’m still beyond confusion and bewilderment to the point of clinical insanity, but this is probably the best accommodation

I’ve had in a stone’s throw to twenty years.

 

I need to leave, remember how I told you that there are people after me? While I’m glad… _ecstatic_ almost that you won’t do the same to me, I know for a fact that they will not

share your hospitality, and I know for another fact… a sister fact… that they’re losing their minds up there, trying to find me.

 

I don’t know how they haven’t followed me in here yet, I mean you said It’s been twelve hours or so right?- any time frame aside… until they get some glance at my filthy mug

walking around outside… they’ll grind away at this sorry rock until they’ve leveled the whole mountain.

 

My conscience is already shot… despite how much of an asshole I may look to you… do you really think I could hold the thought of something happening to you?

 

No… I really can’t.”

 

It must’ve worked to some degree because the puppy dog eyes were more… _subtly forlorn_ ,  rather than their guilty sad selves.

 

It was time to put them away though, Omega knew what to say. His solace in the fact of this made him grin.

 

“Hey now, I’ll be fine… you really gotta trust me with that. I’ve been doing this for a long time: last night was just… well I wanted to say _Bad Luck,_ but I’ve had the pleasure of

meeting you, so why don’t we call it even?”

 

 _There_ was that smile, Toriel dried her red, _RED,_ eyes before giving a little nod.

“Alright… my child, I understand… but before you go… just one more…”

 

Omega rolled his eyes and smirked, lightening up.

 

“You’re a real hugger huh? Well alright, _one_ more… but not so _hard_ this time, Ok?”

_Not too many of those now, you’ll start to feel sentiments…_

* * *

 

(...)

“There’s actually one more thing, my child, I’ll be right back.”

Toriel left the man standing at the mouth of the basement. Glancing impatiently at a potted flower.

“Here we are… here, take this.”

She’d placed a rather worn book in Omega’s hands just as she elaborated on it.

“That can answer almost any of your questions that you may get when you’re out there. I know you’re a curious type.”

 

Omega hesitantly accepted the tome, delegating it, a private pocket in his large bag slung over his shoulder.

“Oh thank you, is it like a journal or something you made?”

 

Toriel shook her head innocently.

“More like a textbook actually…” She stifled a _*Snrk!*_ “- I’m sorry, it’s just a little funny, you know… I always wanted to be a teacher.”

 

Omega winked, “Ah… _homework?”_

 

A small giggle “Yep!”

 

He had to snicker too, really anything nice and fuzzy coming out of her was contagious.

“Why thank you, thank you… it’ll help then… cause there’s more of yo _ouuu-"_

 

 Toriel raised a brow at him

 

"-Your type out there right-”

 

“-They’re not all uhm… goats right?”

 

“No.”

 

_Awkward… okay time to go._

  

There was one more delay out of Toriel though.

“Wait!... I’m sorry just _one_ more thing, I’m sorry.”

 

A little less gracious this time as Toriel scampered towards her bedroom, it started with a sigh.

“What?”

 

This time, she came back with something a little more personal, it had red and black stripes, and it was almost as woolly as the monster holding it.

 

“Here… I want you to have this too: It’s probably a little too big for you, It was _really_ too big for anyone else-”

 

Again, Omega was even more reluctant to accept someone's sweater of all things, but he did.

 

“-it was one of my first tries on sewing, I’m not the best at it but…

I know you don’t have your sweatshirt and I just…”

 

The maternal tone came back for just a glimpse.

 

“-It’s _cold_ out there and I…

I don’t want you to catch one.”

 

And now _again,_ the hesitation turned to short termed gratitude.

“Oh… thank you.”

 

* * *

 

     They were finally off… there were no more words between the two as they proceeded through the darkened passage. It was only in the presence of the gargantuan door that

their concluding words were exchanged.

“Alright my child, this is the only exit from the RUINS… once you cross it, you won't be able to return.”

 

The heavy thought sparked an idea on the fly for Omega, there was confidence in this too,

“Wait! Why don’t you come with me? You won’t have to be alone anymore. Then you can teach me while we’re out there if you’d like and-”

 

Toriel shushed him.

“No, my child… I cannot leave this place, I promised that I’d keep watch for any more children to fall down. They will most certainly need the same help you did in your time of need.”

 

This child had a retort.

“But Toriel, what if the people come down the way I did? They won’t understand like I did, Only this time they won't-”

 

This time, Toriel physically closed her child’s lips.

“My place is here, and that’s not debatable. I will do all the worrying for you, you do not need to fret over me. If such an event occurred, I can show them what they need to see.

That’s there’s always a compromise in a conflict, there’s always another way to solve something. And especially how there is never, _ever, EVER,_ a reason to kill anyone.”

 

Her eyes locked onto Omega’s for a final time, glistening red, but as clear as moonlight.

 

“And the same applies to you, more so than ever… I can see your hurt and how it can spill out on others… you will agree there.

But at the same time… I can see just beyond it… someone hiding in deep inside, a kind person, a child. They’re afraid to climb out from behind the hurt because they’ve been

put there so many times. I want nothing more than to see that child, and I would carry them from that hurt just to see their smiling face.

 

You will encounter many things out there that you do not understand, the book may help with some of them. But you _will_ have to see some things throughout by yourself. If you

can trust me, then I know for one of your facts… that I can trust you to make the right choices.”

 

 

There was a heavy lump forming in Omega’s throat, supplied by something coming out of his core.

“But what about that piece of shit… the person that took your children away… Asgore right? Child murdering fuck. He's down here too right? If I come across him, I can send

him your regards before

splattering his brains all over the nearest wall.”

 

The most sincere head-shake of them all.

 

“No, not _anyone,_ not even _him_ of all monsters…

There is always another way, even if sometimes it forces you to just run away,

You’ll find that most monsters won’t want to fight you as much as you don’t to them…

Promise me-”

 

Promises were dangerous for Omega, but he stayed open to hear it coming from Toriel’s heart.

 

“- Promise me, that you will at least _try_ to see both sides of any conflict.”

 

Whether he would uphold that request or not, Omega nodded listlessly, he maintained eye contact just to confirm.

“Alright Toriel…

I’ll give it a go.

For you then.”

 

Omega reached for the large door, he was impeded by one final, _final,_ final thing.

“Wait, one last thing I promise, my child.”

 

Omega turned for another delay.

“Yes?”

 

“Your name… forgive me for forgetting such a thing: I never asked what your name was.”

 

It made Omega laugh out of the whole circumstance of it.

“Pssh! Wow! Just what am I like?

Meet the nicest person in the world, and you don’t even give a name.

 

Aye yiy yiii…

 

Well ok, so the people after me, they gave me a little nickname: at least it’s what everyone calls me, what’s under the ‘DOMESTIC TERRORIST’ posters, and what have you.

 

They call me “ _SUSPECT OMEGA THETA”_ menacing enough to rally the public I guess.”

 

He assumed Toriel would question it, so he took the liberty of answering it by lifting up his right sleeve. The ultimate Greek symbol housed the other one, prominently

displayed on his shoulder.

**Ω**

**θ**

 

“I don’t remember this one, but they do… anyways, my real-name I use.

Well, it’s not worth much to use, but.

My name’s Brainz: Just how you say it, (mind the s and replace it with a z)

 

And it’s just that.”

 

Toriel got what she wanted, at least she thought so, it didn't sit quite right.

  
"Brainz.... that's... an interesting name."

 

Brainz nodded. “I agree, but it’s mine and that’s what I go by.”

 

He turned back towards the door, but gave Toriel another glance on his own merit this time.

“One Last thing, outta me this time-”

 

She stopped pondering to see him off.

“Hmm?”

 

“Thank you.”

 

A modest blush sprouted again on her face.

  
“Oh it’s alright, I have many more sweaters like that one, it wouldn’t fit-”

 

“No-

Thank you… for everything… and I’m sorry for being… well _myself_ back there, all creepy and crazy.

 

It’s just… I haven’t had anyone actually _be_ with me for a long time.

I haven’t seen this kindness in a long time,  especially not from someone amazing like you.-”

 

A sigh with one last gander at the closest thing to a friend.

 

“- I guess you forget what it’s like when you’ve been away from it for so long.

But you though… I was so quick to just brand you, just because you weren’t _normal_ to me, because you didn't attack me like anyone else would, I don’t think it’s normal for anyone, let alone a person or a… _monster?_ To be this

nice."

 

Toriel’s face almost matched her eyes now, humbled to the point of embarrassment.

But it flushed away when she picked her care out from the soliloquy.

“You really have it rough out there huh?”

 

Brainz slinked through the gargantuan door.

“You don’t know the half of it.”

 

* * *

 

As the echo from the door diffused from the violet hall, Toriel was alone again, with the exception of her thoughts on the way back. Sure, her heart hurt, it _always_ hurt.

But for once, it wasn’t what bothered her the most, it was pushed aside by something more sinister that she wasn’t used to.

**_DREAD_ **

 

Of all the things she told her child, she overlooked the one thing that had been afflicting her the most.

But what was it for?

An Alleged force of cruelty and malice that could greet her?

She disregarded her own selfish needs as she climbed back to her house.

 

The sting of losing another child?

 

Toriel was too used to that, at least too much to feel this level of vile emotion. She shrugged it off

as she went to snuff the flames in the mantle.

(...)

 

Then she remembered what it was, something she didn’t care to ever see

Something the human would’ve seen too, if she didn’t stop him for his things.

Something black and ugly: amidst its companions taken from her child's pockets, all dormant on a nightstand.

 

The same something that was clutched in his bleeding hand once upon a time.

It had a name... proudly etched onto the side of it's hide.

“ **COLT COMMANDER .45”**

 

 

The only thing Toriel could do in the face of the confiscated weapon was pray for her child. Pray that he’d do the right thing.

“Please… please let me have done the right thing… forgive me my child.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

Some more purple walls, stairs, and a glorified landing: Brainz reached the second of the twin gargantuan doors.

As the second one slammed shut behind him… he… felt his loss for words, stinging his bare skin with the air.

[First Steps in Snowdin](https://youtu.be/gDD7ERkJkPM)  
 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AUDIO TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO.
> 
> *Large door slams shut, echoing through the outside area*  
> *The sound of a winter landscape drones on, wind casually blowing in constant.*
> 
> *Brainz takes a couple of footsteps in the snow, slowing down gradually with building disbelief*  
> (...)
> 
> Brainz- "You've gotta fucking kidding...."


	3. Unriotous  Comic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you're in the face of the most terrifying "friend" you've ever met,  
> The jokes are *ALWAYS* funny.

“What the fuck is this?” He wasn’t going to get an answer out of himself, but asking felt quite obligatory at this point.

 

It’s snow: y’know, the white stuff that falls from the sky whenever it’s too cold for rain, obviously.

Everything was there to conclude what it was… except the _sky,_ Brainz stared up meekly at the the cavernous ceiling: very cavernous.

 

Very Sarcastic.

 

“Well then… guess that’s more logic out the window… snow- and trees, hold the clouds and drop the sun. Great!

 

 

A gust of gaseous ice sapped some of the heat from his body, he stared at the sweater clutched in his hand with a shiver: it was looking better and better with every degree dropped, closer to hypothermia.

The aforementioned faults of this garment were more prevalent putting it on; half the size of the monster who made it: so naturally it was too big for the human. The collar was indecisive on whether it wanted to be a turtleneck or not. Also really… it just _looked_ juvenile.

“God… look at me, she may have well put a bib on me and wrote my name on the tag. Anyone could get away with calling me a child like this… forty-six years old and your clothes are being picked out by goat who’s trying to pass for your _mom.”_

 

_Negative negative! At least your body temperature isn’t, you try to be positive about it._

 

“Whatever.” He pressed on, with the conformation of trees and tamed snowbanks, there was really only one way to go.

“Alright… let’s see now-” Brainz struck up a bout of introspection while he huddled forward, hunched over to combat the cold.

 

“I’m in a cave… inside of umm… the road sign said it was Mount… Ebott- , yeah.

I have been given a chance to leave by a talking goat who again, wants to be my _mother_ of all things, right.

Apparently too, this is where talking animals live: and we’ve never found that out, but _they,_ for some reason prefer to stay hidden: which is why we’ve never documented this… mm hmm.”

 

A lone branch stood in his path, it was hastily defeated with a small kick, Brainz proceeded.

 

“The fed-fucks haven’t followed me down here yet… regardless of how long I have to get some distance from there: there’s a child murdering piece of garbage on the loose… and considering how Toriel thinks I fit in the description _of_ a child… I guess some things never change.

 

I’ve still got problems… Mmmn-hmm… yes.

 

And so _nowww_ … I’m walking through an impossible winter forest, no sense of direction, logic, _reality,_ or disposition. Still as mindfucked as I was from seeing a goat monster.

I’d ask what I did to deserve this, but I really don’t know what could’ve specifically warranted _this_ of all things."

He gave his repaired thumb a bit of an inspection.

 

"And this is all apparently real.... I couldn't be anymore awake or sober." 

 

Something (man?)-made took his attention, but he felt obligated to himself: to finish his thought as he approached it.

 

“-well excusing whatever I did back in her house… Jesus Christ, I haven’t felt that culpable in forever.

A little kindness, not eating me, and being conveniently huggable, and I blurt my guts out?

No way, she must’ve done something to me… why else would I feel like I want to- I just gotta get out of here before I lose it completely. That’s not too far off, considering I’m just gonna go with everything I’ve witnessed so far,...

Oh! Speaking of which…”

 

He removed his previously coveted duffel bag, placing it down just before a wooden pathway connecting a bottomless gap in the ground.

 

* _(Zzzz-zZZP!)*_

“Mmm-hmm… so what _do_  we got here.”

 

Malice... and lots of it, taking up the concealed space in a disarray of loose bullets and stray ammunition magazines.

But taking the immediate precedence was what took up the most space, Brainz brought it out into the cold just to hear that very distinguishable sound...

 He fed it red cartridges from the bag, and tried the sound again.

 

[Sounds Like a Twelve Gauge](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13_cztSYueY)

 

It made him feel better, but the rest of the bag's contents would just reaffirm a frown on his cold face.

Slender metal boxes varying in height but sharing the same size of their contents: 45 caliber automatic colt pistol. 

 

"Right... she threw my shit away...-"

Brainz muttered with a bit of contempt while putting away the now loaded shotgun.

"- just great, three-hundred rounds and she throws away the only things that could use these..."

 

 

 

The duffel bag was closed up, and despite the his newly found grievance against Toriel: Brainz would still keep his non-violent promise: at least refraining from brandishing anything horrible three minutes after he promised not to, or at least until the idea wouldn’t bother him as much.

  
All in all, there was still a loaded shotgun just waiting for that moment to come, and he knew that very well.

 

“Alright, sanity check.” The smallest of bag compartments was opened once again, withdrawn: One textbook, and a black rag conformed in the shape of its contents.

 

The rag had its own set of more “sensible” goodies that were borrowed from some friends, A red carton belonging to a _Pall Mall,_ and a tiny silver capsule from some guy named _ZIPPO._

 

An ornate looking flare projector... though… that actually belonged to Brainz.

 

The lighter opened its maw, introducing a small flame to the world: sharing the heat with a paper contribution from the carton. Everything else (Besides the book) found a new residence hastily shoved into the smoker’s jean pockets. 

 

The silver looking 'Flaregun' wouldn't get to play outside, it went back into its pocket. 

 

A cloud of smoke and condensing water vapors was exhaled,

“(Ooooaah… Jesus…. Thank fuck),”  leading a suppressed cough or two.

 

“Of all the things trying to kill me… these’re gonna do it first I swear to god.”

One more prolonged puff, now with added depression.

 

“Christ… just what has my life dropped to now?”

 

 

 

Time to check for an answer, the book was flipped open: ready for a lifetime of yellowing pages from toxic smoke fumes.

 

When you know nothing about absolutely nothing, there’s no better place to start than the actual start of the book.

It was all in cursive, something taboo in a textbook: but surprisingly neat and legible.

 

“ _Prologue: The Undertale._

_Long ago, two races ruled over Earth: HUMANS and MONSTERS. One day, war broke out between the two races._

_After a long battle, the humans were victorious. They sealed monsters underground with a magic spell-”_

 

“Oh come _onnn_ … more of this _magic?_ I thought this was supposed to be a textbook…”

Sarcasm closed the book for now.

 

“- _Gee_ thanks Toriel, you're  _really_ helping me out, tossing my stuff and giving me fuckin fairytales."

 

Potential fiction aside, Brainz got back to his feet with book & cigarette butt in hand, concluding his mandatory sanity check: (Still checked: Nicotine acquired, Magic is still Bullshit… you’re good to go.)

He slung his bag over, and prepared to flick the spent cigarette into the chasm-

 

 

A gruff voice croaked from behind, “those’re bad for you ya know…”

 

It sent him into the air with a surprised yelp.

“ _Gah, Fuck!"_

The cigarette went quite the opposite direction into the darkness below, Brainz spun around madly to face the voice.

 

It grinned menacingly at Brainz, with one arm outstretched and the other in a pocket, it made _much_ less sense than a talking goat: Toriel’s workings were far-fetched, improbable at best, but she still had _lungs!..._ and… _vocal chords!_ But this?

It was; without _Skin!,_

It was: without _Muscles!_

It was: _Moving on its own merit!_

It was: _IMPOSSIBLE._

And… it was talking again, soundly deeply patronizing.

 

“hey buddy, don’t know how you do your business, but down here, we greet new pals with a handshake.”

 

Brainz remained partially motionless, besides a nervous twitch: a match trying to spark to start a powerful combustion known as _FIGHT or FLIGHT._ His arm would retrieve something from his bag if provoked.

 

“you’re a _hands_ _on_ sorta guy huh?” It started to walk towards the tremoring human, “here- i’ll show ya.”

 

Finally, Brainz struck a panicked response, “ _NO!”_ almost tripping on the poorly made garrison adorned to the bridge.

 

The skeleton stopped advancing, returning its joint visible arm to a pocket: still grinning.

 

_Don’t start with this again, You relax, and use your words._

 

He did, but with less volume this time, “Uhh no,” Throat cleared. “You can- stay right there, I’m fine… you erm- startled me, is all.” The arm slowly retreated to his side, away from his bag of fun.

 

The thing shrugged, “happens sometimes, i scare people out of their _skins_.”

 

That pun made Brainz wince, “You get that a lot?”

 

Still grinning, it amused itself. “yep... although: i’ve never seen anyone jump as high as you though, you’re a real jumpy guy arent’cha?”

 

Brainz tried to conceal the fear with an assertive attempt to sound just as sure of himself as this perpetually smiling creep. “Depends on you, _*pal*_ … you planning on wearing me like a jacket anytime soon?”

 

“mmm... nah, you can keep that, i’m good” It nudged on it’s own fur coat. “appreciate the offer though, guess we’re already closer than we thought.”

 

So much for out-doing it, Brainz went into denials. “Uhnn- uhhh, no-no no-no, I know your- Uhhh-” He actually resorted to the fiction he _just_ shrugged off, on the spot.

“-your little war with people and what not, gonna sucker me in: you’ll have my back right before you stab it right?”

 

It blew a quick raspberry with its non existent lips, sounding quite unbothered.

“oh yeah i forgot about that, pretty long time ago…  good for you that you know it though-”

 

Without warning… it code-switched its entire outlook, losing whatever accent it had for something of bleak monotony and soulless lack of expression.

“- **r** **ead it in a book?”**

 

Brainz lost his cool, hard to believe it could be done in the middle of freezing nowhere, but the air felt stuffy and overbearing. His palm felt sticky against the leather hide of the tome behind his back.

 

“heh, i’m just playin with ya, no need to blend in with the snow-”

 

It was common for Brainz to defy beliefs where his pale skin could manage even brighter shades of white when incredibly nervous, made it hard for him to bluff in the long run.

 

“- i’m sans, sans the skeleton, and since you asked… i am supposed to y’know, look out for humans coming through here so i can capture you and all that…

but... eh, i don’t really care…. how bout you?”

 

“... Brainz… just how you say it, with a ‘z’, nothing else…”

 

“great, we’re already good pals,” Sans held out his hand again, “how about that handshake now?”

 

Despite allegations of friendliness, Brainz held his reluctance, leaning back on a wooden pole that couldn’t bar anyone passage.

 

“Uhh, no thanks, like I said… you stay back about- that much… i’m not so good with trusting people just like that, let alone a skeleton wearing pink slippers.”

 

“fashion and good taste is one thing, but i wouldn’t trust those poles with _my_ life, i know who built em and i can tell ya that carpentry doesn’t belong on his résumé.”

 

Before Brainz could retaliate to that, a loud splintering noise erupted from behind him as the bars gave way to his weight, sending them towards the blackness below. He himself was stopped by a bony hand grabbing him by the shirt.

“told ya, now… wanna finally give me your hand?”

 

Brainz finally obliged and went for the outstretched arm, on contact: a nasty shock ran through his arm, his grip on the book was lost along with the book.

“ _Gah! Sunova Bitch!”_

 

Sans laughed, holding up the buzzer in his other hand.

“heh, i’m sorry- i couldn’t resist, here.”

 

Sans pulled the guy back up to the pathway, he was thanked by a grimacing snarl and a hostile tone.

 

“Thanks alot, _asshole,_ that book wasn’t even mine.”

 

Another nonexistent facial feature was exercised, this time a brow raised in question.

“what book?”

 

“The one _you_ made me drop down _there-”_ A gesture to the void below. “- with your little prank!”

 

“you mean this one right here?” The lost book was presented to the human.

 

_Here it comes…_

“What the fuck?!”

 

“s’matter? this isn’t yours, right?” Sans sounded oblivious enough to be innocent, yet smug enough to be screwing with the man. He was still screwing with the man either way, that was a given.

 

“How did you do that?”

 

“what.”

 

“The thing you’re friggen holding! How the hell did you get that?!”

 

“i grabbed it, with these.” He cycled his digits playfully, a wise-assed demonstration to the human.

 

_He’s fuckin with ya now._

“From down there literally _seconds_ after you made me-

You know what? Forget it, forget about it, just gimme that.”

 

The book returned to Brainz with a quick swipe, “Thank you _very much…”_ He was too frustrated to unclench his teeth.

 

He honestly didn’t know what to do next, run far away? He’d end up lost, but any distance away from this bleached weirdo would be a plus. However, Brainz had the liberty of temptations withheld from him, when something ear harming sounded off down the path.

 

“... SANS!...”

 

_Sounds like someone else is pissed off at this smug faced prick, at least you’re not alone._

“The hell’s that?”

 

“that’s just my bro, papyrus: coming to check if i found a human.”

 

He couldn’t sound more nonchalant if he tried… he probably could actually, it’d be surprising if he couldn’t really.

 

“he’s like my opposite, catching humans is all he talks about, he’s a fanatic on chasing them, setting traps for them, capturing them, y’know… stuff that’s too much work for me.”

 

Brainz straightened his things, roaring to run back in his tracks. “ Oh That’s just fucking great, thanks for the warning ahead of time, I’m goin back where I at least _know_ what’s coming.”

_You really don’t but, ok._

 

Sans was in the way, “nahh, i got an idea, right up ahead is my sentry booth: you can just slip in there, he’ll never find you. i never go in there myself.”

 

Was he _that_ stupid? Or was this deliberate?

“Are you serious? Only an _idiot_ would overlook that, let alone fall for it!”

 

“hmm yeah, i suppose you can just stand here holding conversation with me then, that’ll work better, he may mistake you for a rock.”

 

The patronizing tone was solid to the point of madness, Brainz stood before the skeleton, sputtering angrily. He overrode his instincts on a fool’s move, _trusting_ the creepiest guy he just met.

“Alright, _fine!_ But if you think this is a trick, you see this?”

The duffel bag was brandished.

 

“I’m not as helpless as you may think, you try something and you’ll find out what’s inside.”

 

Then he got right into Sans’s anti-face. “You hear me?”

 

“i hear papy getting closer.”

 

Another frustrated growl bearing clenched fists. “ _Rnngh!.. ([i swear to fucking god])....”_

* * *

 

“sup bro?”

 

The voice that answered was equally irritating, as Sans’s was monotonous (Severely unbearing).

“SANS, YOU KNOW VERY WELL, WHAT’S UP… BRO.

YOU STILL HAVEN’T RECALIBRATED YOUR PUZZLES

IT’S BEEN OVER A WEEK!!”

 

_That’s not the least bit annoying… you’re gonna wanna plug your ears when he talks._

 

“hey man, i just haven’t gotten around to it yet, i’ve just been really busy, i’m **_stationed_ ** _with work.”_

 

An angry voice rang inside a human’s head.

“ _What was that?… He isn’t…”_

 

The tinnitus inducing voice boomed again, outraged.

“BUSY?! BUSY DOING WHAT?!!

ALL YOU DO IS SIT AROUND YOUR STATION ALL DAY!! YOU’RE NOT BUSY!!

I DEMAND TO KNOW WHAT YOU DO ALL DAY BESIDES SIT AROUND!”

“i’ve got loads i have to do before i can even worry about **_a human,_ ** still gotta catch those z’s, they’ve really been stuck to my **_Brainz,_ ** it **_is_ ** just grueling. i can never get through everything **_in_ ** a day, guess that’s **_my_ ** fault for taking on so much work as a **_sentry._ ** that’s also during the short time i can take a break in my **_booth_ ** . but **_right now_ ** i’m just having a **_look_ ** at that lamp over there. isn’t it cool?”

 

 _“You have got to be for fucks-sake kidding me right now!!”_ The alleged paranoia attack stung more than a shard from a broken ketchup bottle scratching his leg. It sucked worse than getting the red condiment on yourself.

 

 _What? Did somebody rinse their mouth with ketchup? It all over the place!_ _  
_ _Gross!_

If the mouthpiece outside took a hint to this, Sans and his hostile sounding brother would give Brainz the achievement of fastest promise  _not_ to kill someone, broken.... a new record.

 

“SANS!, I DON’T HAVE THE TIME ANY OF YOUR GAMES,

IF I WAS ONLY HALF AS LAZY AS YOU, THEN WE’D NEVER CATCH A HUMAN. THEN I THE GREAT PAPYRUS WOULD BE ROBBED OF MY WELL DESERVED RECOGNITION. FAME, FRIENDS.

EVERYONE WOULD WANT MY AUTOGRAPH, I’D SIGN UNTIL MY BONES ACHE, AND THEN SIGN WITH MY OTHER HAND BEING AMBIDEXTROUS!"

 

“you could feel it in your bones huh?”

 

_Well, at least he’s not only dropping poorly timed and made puns on you._

 

“SANS!!”

 

“cmon... i can see you smiling a bit.”

 

“DOH, NYEH! I HATE WHEN YOU DO THAT!

I’M GOING TO ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES.”

The irritating voice trailed off with a perfectly fitting laugh to promote him to “Really Fucking Annoying.”

“-NYEH… HEH.-”

 

Sans knocked on the counter of the small hiding spot.

“alright, he’s gone now.”

 

He would hear a zipper closing before Brainz would surface again.

 

When he did of course, he looked _pissed_ as all hell, the bag slammed against the wooden surface.

 

“What the _fuck_ was that?!!

What’re you trying to-”

(...)

 

 

Brainz looked outside the opening to see snow, some trees, and the aforementioned lamp, but no sign of Sans or his klazomaniac brother.

He dropped his intimidating stance, he was too intimidated to try to intimidate others.

 

“Sans?”

 

He’d be better off silent, because there was no one there.

 

(...)

 

Brainz stepped out into the open, completely by himself again. After failing to spot either of his liabilities, he remembered how to feel about the ordeal. He’d make sure anyone within earshot would hear him.

“I _know_ I didn’t make _up_ that bullshit!!”

He toed the line under his breath.

“ _Did_  I make that up? No… I…

I don’t know anymore.

But I’m getting out of here before more of this shit happens.”

 

The choices were quite straightforward:  go back to the weird goat lady path: or risk your sanity further.

Sanity is overrated anyways.

 

A discarded box next to a sign confirming that it indeed, was a box, perfect. Empty.

 

Speaking of empty, there they were again, Sans and a similar looking thing (impossibly sentient) that dwarfed his height further.

Judging from the ridiculous outfit and self indulgent red cape, and how it’s voice could be heard from a mile away, Brainz had the _enormous_ pleasure of meeting Papyrus.

 

“SO I WAS JUST SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE-”

 

A pleasantly timed side effect from tobacco smoke hacked out of the spectator’s lungs, but it was really the subtle swearing afterwards that took Papyrus’s attention.

 

“IS THAT, WHAT I THINK IT IS?”

 

Sans leaned to get a sight behind the figure standing before him, pointing at what he saw.

“it’s a rock.”

 

Brainz could only mouth what he wanted to say out of the ridiculous outrage ( _What?!),_ he failed to see the similarities between himself and a stone roughly two feet tall, and for that: his temper flared before Papyrus could react to it.

 

“ _Noo,_ I’m not a goddamned rock! What does it look I am?!”

 

“A HUMAN?” The sheer oblivion to a rhetorical question worked well with his laughing brother, Brainz didn’t run into one skin lacking schmuck, but a whole family of them.

 

He tried sarcasm, a risky move in front of Sans, but inevitable for how irritating this was.

“Actually _no_ , I keep getting confused for one… but I just _look_ like I’m an old man wearing a sweater with a bag full of loaded **_firearms_** in my hand. Honest mistake _really_.”

 

He got another laugh out of Sans.

But the apparent success of his unserious bluff with the brother, and the lack of effect for emphasizing his possession of a ballistic arsenal… well that was worrisome.

 

“OH OK, MY APOLOGIES FINE SIR, THIS WILL BE THE LAST MISTAKE I EVER-... WAIIIT A SECOND….”

 

_It’s like watching a bad sitcom! Only you’re a part of it._

 

“- NYEH HEHHH, NICE TRY HUMAN!

BUT I HAVE BRILLIANTLY SEEN THROUGH YOUR CLEVER DISGUISE, YOU CANNOT FOOL THE GREAT PAPYRUS!”

 

“Oh wow, what could’ve _possibly_ gave it away?"

Brainz didn’t actually say that, he’d probably receive a monologue if he did: Despite Papyrus being as tall as he was: everything clever or even remotely sarcastic flew over his shiny head.

 

He actually applied his palm directly to his forehead: and sighed with listless defeat… then feigned _apathetic_ lament.

“Well fuck me, I should’ve _known_ that that plan would never work, oh woe is me, what now?”

Brainz didn’t care to process another bout of Papyrus stroking an undeserved ego, he didn’t know what to tune out, everything coming from this jackass’s incomplete mouth.

 

“... POPULAR, SO POPULAR! AND THEN, UNDYNE WILL FINALLY LET ME-”

 

“I’m gonna ask you politely to cap it… you see, I’m _really_ not in the mood for… whatever you’re doing, you see… I’m on the receiving end of one of the worst days I can remember.”

  
He got Papyrus to do exactly what Sans was doing, stare silently, an accomplishment unrealized.

“Now-” He dropped his bag by his feet again, following the motion with a stretch.

 

“-I’m gonna ask you to skip the bullshit, and get on with putting yourself in mortal danger, your uh brother there decided he didn’t want to die horribly… I mean he still pissed me off, kinda like how you’re doing it right now: and considering that I'm telling you this out of the  _kindness_ of my something... whatever I have.

You really shouldn't piss me off.

 

But he’s got the right idea still, y’know… not blatantly saying that he wants to capture me… I think not even bothering to try me... but in any regards… what’re we doin? Am I going to need to open this bag or what?"

 

Sans was expected to do *something*, _anything_ really, considering his brother was given a crude threat from a guy he had just met. But no, he didn’t seem the least bit _bothered_ by the rising tensions.

 

Papyrus went out of his way to completely and utterly disregard anything coming from the human’s mouth.

“ENOUGH CHATTER, I: THE GREAT PAPYRUS… WILL STOP YOU HUMAN

AND THEN I WILL CAPTURE YOU,

AND _THEN_ YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL

AND _THEEEN…_ WELL I DIDN’T THINK THAT FAR AHEAD REALLY… BUT, PROCEED IF YOU DARE CHALLENGE ME.”

He ran away trailing his brand of intolerable laughter, Sans had a modest chuckle, Brainz had a look of absolute bewilderment on his face.

 

“huh, that went better than i expected it to go, you did good kid.”

 

For something so minute, Brainz changed the subject for one temper laced retort.

“Kid?! I’m _forty-six!_ Do I _really_ look like a kid? Honestly, is it _this?”_

He prodded and pulled at his juvenile looking sweater, diverting his attention from Sans… of course by the time he realized this and looked back up: Sans was gone.

 

“Goddammit!”

* * *

 

“ _Hurgh!_ Stupid-fkcing-smug, lousy smile, wiseass prick….”

 

Prior to him continuing down the path of  “bullshit”, it was mandatory for Brainz to damn Sans to the eighth ring of hell, ensure he would blow  Papyrus’s head off, _(“Fucking”_ blow it off that is), and ask himself if he could _“Pretty fucking please, Just for fucks sake PLEASE”_ not run into anything absurd for at least five minutes.

 

Now, sucking on another carcinogen, he pushed on: venting frustrations with foul smelling smoke.

“I’ve been out here for what I can only imagine, _twenty_ minutes at the most, and already I just want to just fuck all and quit. I feel like I just want to go back to Toriel’s place, and just wait for them to come. At least I’d be comfortable.”

 

_That’s probably not the only reason you wanna go back, is it._

 

He passed a poorly constructed (Uninhabited) guard booth, “Hmmmm, I wonder if that tall psycho is the guy who built the bridge that almost killed me, this has his name written all over it.”

 

The unsettled fort actually did, written in an array of different colored crayons.

 

“Wow… this is weird, if I had known any better I’d think that this job was done-”

A tone of genuine thought overshadowed the spite, new possibilities came up as Brainz finished his sentence.

“By… a ….. Kid.

Hmmmmm…”

 

“ _HEY!”_

Brainz cleared three feet with his startled jump this time, back on the ground it seemed that the guard booth had become much more well built… and less empty. The sole resident glared at him, providing the building blocks for recurring nightmares.

 

“What do you think _you’re_ doing, _BUB!_

_It just HAD to be a fucking talking dog, of course..._

 

By all means, Brainz wasn’t cynophobic to the slightest: but considering the last dog he saw used him as a chew toy… this encounter made the scars on his left arm tingle. He remained stock-still from anxiety.

 

“Don’t play dead with me! I _SAW_ you move, don’t think you can just mosey your stinkin flank passed me, all _moving around._ You think just cause I can only see movin stuff, that you can mess with me?”

 

_It’s a dog right? Not a T-rex? Can he seriously not see you? You continue your charade._

There wasn’t a response, Brainz remained as he was, without any signs of life or movement.

 

“ _Wise guy eh?_ Alright, we’ll see if you’re still moving after _this!”_

It telegraphed its next move with an attempt to be intimidating, failure aside the entire cerulean sword that it sent Brainz’s way did the trick.

 

“Shit!” Brainz remarked out of hasted surprise, taking a dive to his left flank. The split second belation of his action saw the tip of the blade grazing his shoulder.

“Aghk! Fuck!”

 

Brainz pushed the need for triage out of his mind as he jumped back to his feet, his attacker had slid over the booth’s counter and was now standing before its opponent, twirling a pair of elongated daggers.

 

Brainz awaited another attempt at his life, ready for a countermeasure when… nothing happened for a good full minute. He was about to question the whole ordeal, but the hesitation got to the talking dog first, it impatiently barked at him.

“ _C-mon already!_ Let’s go, give me your best shot!”

 

Because taking this thing’s advice would be a good idea, Brainz refused.

“You think I’m just gonna bum rush you like an idiot? _No!”_

 

The dog laughed at the rebuttal, “Very well then, _My turn!_ Don’t you move now!”

Another blade of similar hue went directly for the human’s flesh at such a velocity, that he’d react _AFTER_ it would cleave right through him.

 

But it actually did though, the sharp surface was a rush of ice through the man’s organs, he yelled out of trauma, doubling over to futily cover up…

 

“ _What-the… what? WHAT?!_

_WHAT-THE-FUCK?!”_

He felt the blue metal pass through him, a clean impalement leaving an eviscerated abdomen to spill all over the white snow. But he had no guts to spill or cut to show.

Desperate for an explanation, he fearfully looked up at the sender, it grinned at him.

 

“Bring it on!”

_It’s waiting for your next move, like a turn! Mind the fact that you just passed a sword through your insides! You go for your weapons._

 

But he still didn't, neglecting to retrieve the thing that could easily spread gray matter all over the snow.

 

The dog played spectator long enough again, the third projectile would go right for the man’s neck.

 

As Brainz wound up for a crouch, a violent shiver coursed through his entire body: he froze and tensed up on the spot.

_YOU DON’T MOVE and YOU DON’T GET HURT._

 

And to the discredit of a moment of absolute panic, the sword found its mark on the man’s throat, only to pass through without any form of laceration or damage. When the cold sensation ceased, Brainz’s body twitched back into function.

 

A broken thought raged into conception, “Jesus Christ! I almost _died! I can’t TAKE this anymore!_ ”

_You've had enough of this! FIGHTing is the only way out!_

 

The raging pulse; streams of cold sweat, and the tremors inside. The scornful criminal exercised his expertise: he growled with fury, but still remained as  _something_ was acting as a restraint, holding him back from committing a violence.

.

 

The dog still continued to taunt the man tremoring before it, taking the mans's hands and rapid _audible_ quivering breaths as a sign of indecision.

 

“Get on with it, human! I can see you moving even when you're standing still!

Bring it on!”

 

The temptations and taunts continued to pour from the canine’s running mouth as the standoff continued for a apprehensive amount of time, both oppositions were waiting on Brainz to do something… _anything_ at this point.

_You've completely frozen and for no reason._

Frozen...  an idea!

 

Brainz bent over rapidly, scooping a handful of snow into a spherical projectile. When he finished the production, the hand that would've pulled a trigger sent the snowball over the dog’s head, smack into the wooden guard booth.

 

The sentry turned out of surprise to face the movement, a miss, almost a _blatant_ one at that. It turned back to taunt the human’s terribly poor aim.

 

“Pahahaha! What was that? You kept me waiting for all that, just to throw a snowball at me? _And miss?!_

Another round of laughter… it died down rather quickly.

“Alright, alright… now where are you, you moving little punk?”

 

Unfortunately for the blade welding dog… it would never find _that_ punk, because the punk ran away as soon as the dog eyed the frozen distraction running down its little booth.

* * *

 

Brainz bolted, throwing ragged breaths into the harsh wind.

 

The sensation of a mousetrap clamping his heart urgently begged him to stop, he had his head turned behind him for the frantic dash and it seemed he had gotten away from the mangy mutt, so a breather was inevitable, just for his thoughts to catch up to him.

When the thought of him sprinting madly with no idea where the hell he was going hit him... 

 

He tripped (or slipped) alright, on the patch of ice he failed to notice: prompting him to skid against the ice on his face.

 

“Ouch.”

 

That’s all he did, besides starting a long bout of pants: he spared one word to himself, still face planted on the frozen surface.

But mentally, he felt his thoughts procuring a riot act, mostly self judgement with a touch of loathing.

 

He’d deserve the self hatred, acknowledging his understanding with a sigh, but his (lack of) better judgement was ruthless

Still experiencing facetime with a patch of reddening ice, Brainz felt his mouth creating an excuse for no other than himself.

 

“No… no

I’m not going to go around shooting dogs, not yet. The last thing I need is the noise attracting more of these fuckers.

Not until I know what there’s more of, bullets or these freaks... being down a firearm or two."

 

The voice inside ceased, either appeased, or withheld out of spite, conflicting personalities were funny like that.

 

With another pained grunt from lying on his lungs, Brainz wanted to reassure himself.

 

“I’m pretty stupid, that’s why I’m here… but I’m not _that_ stupid to act as a self employed mercenary, spare being mercurial.”

 

“that’s good to know.”

 

_Okay, you’re a little mercurial._

Brainz lurched off of his belly, flipping right onto his back. Looking forward now, he wasn’t any less surprised to see that familiar grin staring him down.

 

“good to see you coming to terms with the ice, i hope you **_cooled_ ** the tensions between you two.”

 

An acknowledgment was made to buy him some time. “Sans…”

 

“jumpy.”

 

'Jumpy' did what his name suggested with the return of an outstretched arm begging for his came, he recoiled a bit.

Paranoia aside, he let Sans receive the favor of helping him to his feet.

 

"Uh... thanks I guess."

 

 

“sure, no problem: you may wanna be more careful there, you almost hurt someone.”

 

The self proclaimed conscience came back, it sounded off behind his genuinely disturbed face.

_Did he see that? No... yes?_

 

Just as Brainz would start a bootless conversation to justify what Sans might have seen, the skeleton had that patronizing tone again.

 

“yourself... one slip can really do some damage,you really oughta look out when running blindly.”

 

Again, either Sans was _painfully_ oblivious (Which every word coming out of his mouth made the first scenario less probable) or he was just-

 

_He’s still fucking with you… of course._

 

Whatever… he just went with it, feigning the same friendliness Sans was probably procuring… at least to his ability.

“Yeah… sure, I was just lying there for a bit, feeling pretty stupid for running on ice.”

 

“sure thing jumpy.”

 

_He gave you a nickname, cute._

Brainz straightened himself out and by the time he realized that he had broken eye contact with Sans and looked up. Sans was still there for once.

 

Considering how it was against his pattern of vanishing, it wasn’t settling.

 

“What.”

 

“hmm?”

 

“Well, seeing as you haven’t disappeared, leaving me alone to stumble around like some purblind drunk for a third time just so you can reappear whenever it’s funny for you. I figured you still wanted something from me.”

 

No need to complicate anything with lies or sugarcoats, he was just getting tired of the bullshit.

“So what do you want?”

 

“ _well...-"_

Sans nudged one of his slippers into the ice

 

"-i just got off my shift of y’know, looking for you and i was about to head over to a place called Grillby’s for some burgs or fries, you wanna come with?

you look like you could use a break too.”

 

That was an understatement, and despite witnessing the friendliest thing Sans had ever said to him so far…

 

“I really don’t think I’m in the luxury for breaks, but _thanks_ anyways… I think I’ll just continue leaving my sanity behind like a breadcrumb trail-”  A shot was fired at Sans.

 

“- Unless of course, you’d be a _pal_ and give me some… I don’t know, _Directions_ , on the nearest exit to run far the fuck away from this place and never look back, except in the inevitable therapy i’m gonna need.”

 

Brainz got a shrug from the skeleton,

“i dunno about that, but i could give you a hint or two for what you’re in store for down there.”

He pointed to the _only_ way to go by foot.

 

Brainz would’ve begged for a hint, anything to give him any control over his life, but taking a peek down the path of most resistance influenced his words rather quickly.

 

“Y’know what? Let’s take five, a break’s fine.”

 

“alright, cool: i know a shortcut, just back there.

what made you change your mind?”

 

The lie told was as white as the snow they treaded through.

“Hmm? No reason.”

 

As the two proceeded to vanish, Sans’s eccentric brother patiently waited in front of the empty field just up ahead for an adversary that would never approach.

Papyrus would try to juggle a blue orb in his hand, he wouldn’t catch it once and occasionally would suffer a jolt whenever he’d wander into his trap to catch the thing.

 

_You’re *really* not in the mood to deal with him._

* * *

 

 

_What the…_

_What just happened?_

 

“What did you just do? What’s going on?”

 

“we’re here.”

 

“What? But we were just back-”

There wasn’t anywhere to point to in reference, the entire surrounding was alien.

 

“-Uhh… (what the hell?)”

 

“like i said, a shortcut, pretty good time huh?”

 

_This is too weird… you’ll just overlook it, right now you’ve got more relevant potentials._

The two stood in front of the similarly titled building, Brainz wouldn’t pay it much mind, much more the zoo of walking anomalies filling the town space.

 

“I just had a belated apprehension about this, Sans, do I not look like the black sheep of the herd out here?

I think I should’ve considered this _before_ going into a public space.”

 

The skeleton had jovially held the door open to the establishment, his bleached skull shook calmly.

“pssh, i wouldn’t worry about that, no one’s really gonna care: and not in here anyways, I know all the members of the royal guard who go here so if you’re cool with me then they’re cool with you-”

 

When he raised a brow that wasn’t there, Brainz already sneered before the pun was even delivered.

“-looks like you’re already pretty **_cool_ ** _,_ so you’re good to go.”

 

_Ugh… that’s not funny, you’re not half-smiling._

 

There was one more trepidation to share.

“That thing “Papan” was yapping about, it’s real? I can’t go in here then! Are you nuts?

Are they not supposed to hunt me?”

 

“it’s Papyrus- and if you’re coming here, then you’re on a break like me. they won’t do anything to ya.

like i said: you’re fine… as long as you act natural

**or don’t, whatever’s keeping everyone alive.”**

 

That soulless tone was genuinely scary, enough so that Brainz didn’t even want to question it anymore, so he trusted Sans again. He technically hadn’t faced some horrible form of mortality doing so... so far...

 

It was a small place: the buzzed patrons would spend their time in its rustic midst.  The two entered the tavern, cutting off the cold with the door.

Brainz took in the sight. A mixed bag of creatures: all equally impossible in their anatomy but no two the same (well except a pair of hooded snouts making out over a table).

A jukebox lay dormant in one corner of the room, any potential tunes being overshadowed by a somber piano melody originating from nowhere.

 

Once he had his eyeful, he dropped the question.

“Is this… some kind of bar or something?”

 

Sans gently nudged him, “nah, _that_ is.” he pointed at the bar counter facing the door.

 

“Real funny.”

 

As they made their way to a pair of vacant stools, Sans exchanged some greetings to his friends wearing uniforms. While they could get a good luck at the human accompanying Sans… none seemed to pay any mind to the guy.

 

“Ow! What the shit?”

A sharp, pricking sensation met the guy as he sat down on his stool.

 

Sans sighed with amusement seeing the thumbtack hastily removed from the human’s posterior.

“oh sorry bud, i probably shoulda warned ya that weirdos like to put whoopee cushions and tacks on the stools sometimes.”

 

Sans probably did it, but accusing him of lying probably wasn’t smart, considering he was probably the only thing keeping a lynch mob off of Brainz.

Sarcasm.

“ _Hilarious.”_

 

Because his logic of the world wasn’t quite nullified yet, a new anomaly would approach the two from behind the counter. In terms of how _“absofuckinglutely downright impossible”_ it was, it outdid Sans in every way.

 

“sup grills, think i could get-” he turned to Brainz, who seemed to be paused with awe at the presence of sentient fire. “-what do you want, I’m buying.”

 

There was no response, or acknowledgment, so Sans ordered for both of them.

“a burg for me and my new pal here.”

He completed the gesture by nudging the human’s shoulder, _like the good pals who do that._ It seemed to snap him out of the daze.

 

The source of heat retreated from the counter, Brainz gawked at it until the moment it left the room through a door in the back. Even so, his eyes never left the door.

 

“Is he.. Her?... it? are they someone who’s always _on_ fire?”

A large sweat drop would figuratively run down his face.

 

“almost, Grillby is fire. that’s bout it, funny enough, he’s the most chill guy i ever met if you can believe that.”

 

“Oh sweet Mary Christ, this day just keeps delving further and further

I thought nothing could top a talking goat…

Then a talking skeleton did just that…

Now there’s sentient fire that works as a bartender…

 

this is still real life right?"

 

He only uttered that last part, shrugging Sans off when he would be questioned about it. Sans had something else to ask then.

 

“so then jumpy, what’s the news about you?”

Before the severe wave of anxiety would take place(the kind that comes when you don’t know whether to lie or not to something almost omnipotent). There was the matter of clarification(and stalling really).

 

“Jumpy?”

 

“yeah, i think it’s a good nickname for ya, don’t you?”

 

“No… why?”

 

Those beady white “pseudo-eyes” peered right through Brainz when they widened as if Sans was surprised. The creep even tilted his head a bit.

“you don’t think so? i thought it was perfect for ya-”

 

“Explain…”

 

“well, you jumped three stories high when i said hi to ya. and you seem like someone who really _really_ does not like surprises.-”

 

Brainz agreed so far, “You’re not wrong.”

 

“-and you really don’t seem like the friendly type-a guy. i mean it took you almost falling off a bridge for you to shake my hand, you have a hard time trusting others don’cha? yourself even-”

 

Brainz _was_ nodding in agreement, so the next flip out of Sans seemed grossly out of place. For once, Brainz saw the two white auras inside of the skeleton’s head go out, a perfect image for the soulless monotony he’d hear.

 

“ **what’s the matter human?**

**_GUILTY MIND?”_ **

 

The accusation shook his very being, standing every fiber on their toes: holding up the millions of goosebumps on his skin.

The world paused, the sounds of conversations underlined with a somber melody were quieted, there was only a labored heartbeat out in the open, picking up tempo.

 

The empty skull stared into him without sound or motion, it was as if he was being stared at by death itself,

 

Just as the drops of cold sweat would depart from his face, a radiance of heat returned to the counter, giving perspiration another function over fear.

 

“thanks, grills: put it on my tab eh?”

With a wink, the face of death was gone, time resumed. Sans passed over a plate.

“here ya go.”

 

Moment of unalloyed terror aside, there was food on the table, Sans sent a red bottle down the counter after the food.

“here, want some ketchup with that?”

 

Just as the bottle was snatched quickly, the cap gave way: leaving the bottle to donate a generous amount of the dressing on Brainz’s food.”

Sans gave his trademark smirk. “heh whoops, sorry bout that… here take mine inste-”

 

Brainz was already halfway through the red soaked food, only pausing his ravenous bites to wipe the ketchup off on his jeans.

 

A nonexistent brow was raised, “wow.”

 

Brainz finished off the burg within moments and turned to Sans while wiping his mouth off on his sleeves.

 

Sans still wasn’t relaxing that brow. “wow... either we share a similar liking to ketchup, or you were _really_ starving. i don’t think i’ve ever seen anyone **_wolf_ ** one of those like that before.”

 

_It was “funny” because y’know, there are dogs in here._

 

Still chewing, the man only held up two fingers for the latter of scenarios.

 

“what, skipped lunchtime or something didja?” The skeleton took custody of the nearly depleted condiment bottle.

 

Brainz finally spoke with **_red-sidues_ ** still on his face. “Sometimes I don’t get the opportunity to sit down and eat something-” Now the ketchup was gone, he got the last of it off his face with another wipe. “-happens more than I’d like to say.”

 

“you’ve got an interesting lifestyle i have to say, here i am with my union regulated breaks and shifts. but you, what do you do for a living that you’re skippin half of the most important meal of the day?” Sans brought the bottle of ketchup to his teeth-

 

-while the sight made Brainz wince, he practically drank half of it… so he really didn’t bring it up.

“Uhhhmmn, I really don’t get breaks or holidays for my er…_” A throat clear.

“- my line of work.”

 

Sans took the bottle away from his intangible lips.

“really now? darn, your boss should take a look at unions, i’d hate my job if i worked without my much needed breaks.”

 

The guy bit his lip, “ _Ehhhhh…_ no unions or bosses or anything like that for me. Let’s say I’m self employed, my own boss sorta.”

 

“ah that’s cool, you can take your own breaks whenever you want. why dont’cha? sounds like my dream job, are they hiring?”

 

“It’s complicated.” It was exaggerated to.

“It’s a pretty… untypical job, why don’t we leave it at that?”

 

Sans had other plans.

“what do ya do though? i’m curious.”

 

_You think of a topic switch._

“Lunchtime you say? What time is it anyways? You have shifts, so I assume that you tell time.”

That moment when he got a skeptical look from something without facial muscles contained an eternity inside of four seconds. But it ceased when Sans reached for his sleeve to have a look.

 

“oh shoot.”

 

“What? You over your break time or something? What time _is_ it?”

 

“i just remembered, i don’t wear a watch.”

 

“Of course you don’t.” Brainz finished transferring all the red stuff from his hands to his pants, brushing any crumbs off of himself too.

 

“Well look… I should probably get going then, I know I’m already on the bad side of time… whatever time it actually is.

But, um: thanks for the food and the uh… not having everyone kill me and um…

Could you just point me to where I’m supposed to go to leave?”

 

As the duffel bag of weapons was slung over his shoulder, a bony arm arrested him, Sans stood up from his stool

“wait a sec.”

 

_Uhoh, here it comes, you get ready for something bad._

“What?”

 

“before you go, there’s something i have to tell you, something important i need to ask you.”

 

It was the most sincere he had ever heard Sans, so much that he dropped his guard for bullshit entirely: sounding just as sincere in his curiosity.

“What? What is it?”

 

“do you know…-”

 

“Know what?”

 

“- that you -”

 

“Me? What about me?”

It was all but inevitable, Sans was about to say something that could cause Brainz’s heart to skip a beat, the suspense made him more nervous than the fact that Sans wouldn’t let go of his arm so he could run away.

Brainz tensed up for what would happen next.

 

“- still have ketchup on yourself.”

 

_You’ve gotta be fucking kidding…  your heart deflates._

The disappointment was obvious. “Wh-what?”

 

“i guess you didn’t, you missed a spot under your nose, and look-

you got some of it on your shoulder.”

 

With a tug on the man’s captured arm, Sans had brought the actual source of the red liquid into quite belated relevance.

“Oh s-shit, my arm, I forgot about that!”

 

A clutched handful of previously neglected napkins sought to soak up the red liquid from the slender laceration shared by fabric and flesh.

 

“That’s not good man! Did you not see this before we came in here?”

 

“i dunno, i thought you probably got some of my stash on yourself when you goofed around in my sentry station.”

 

“This isn’t ketchup! Does ketchup come out of _you_ when you get hurt?! Not me!” The damaged part of his shirt was about as damp as the blood soaked napkin he removed.

“Christ, I’m bleeding like a stuck pig!”

 

“ohhhh, that’s what it is, i forgot that all of you guys do that when you get hurt.”

 

_‘You Guys?’ he discriminates against sentient beings that make more sense than him, figures._

 

“No shit sherlock! My nose too, forgot how hard I face planted on the ice, I don’t even know how in the fuck I didn’t break it.”

In his self sympathetic tantrum, Brainz couldn’t pay any mind to the couple of patrons giving him dirty looks. By all means, most of the bar was staring at him now, but only a couple of them had that look in their eyes.

 

“oh cmon now jumpy, i think  you’re jumpin a little much over this… see?

the only thing you’re bleedin out is your dignity, you’re completely unscathed minus that hole in your sleeve.”

 

The worst part of this entire scenario…

Was that he was _right._

 

There was dried and residual blood, but no open wound to answer for it.

 

Brainz wasn’t going to question _whether_ he had ever been hurt: No. The existing blood loss and tear in his gifted sweater did that for him, but as real as his laceration was-

-It wasn’t anymore… simple as that…. his nose wasn’t hemorrhaging either, just a little sliver of coagulated blood from earlier.

It was just like his more _life-threatening_ afflictions from before. It didn’t even _hurt_ anymore.

 

“What?

That’s _impossible…_ ”

_You’ll realize how little that term means down here eventually._

 

Sans released the guy into his own confused stumblings,

“you’re fine, jumps. don’t have a **_cow_ ** , not again at least.”

 

From the look on Brainz’s face, that pun was so funny that he couldn’t even laugh: otherwise, he was just incapable of coherent speech due to his faltering grasp on reality.

Brainz glitched sporadically until he could overlook what just happened to him. When he did speak to Sans again, he sounded quite calm.

 

“I think I gotta leave before I have a stroke, I’m just gonna _go…_ no idea where, but just _away_ if that’s alright with you.”

 

“alrighty, you take care then, jumps.” Sans slouched back into his stool with a fresh bottle of ketchup pilfered from behind the bar counter. “i’ll see ya later after i finish my break-”  
Then Sans preemptively answered the million dollar question by pointing towards his left.

“- _that_ way.”

 

“Huh-what?”

 

“you wanna go that way, exits right out of snowdin.”

 

He didn’t trust Sans enough to believe that, but playing along with whatever scheme was concocted seemed like the only thing he could do.

* * *

 

Out into the cold again: weather and stares alike.

“I can’t take much more of this… this confusion-”

 

He sulked towards the coveted direction, taking urgency to shoot looks at the creatures he passed before they could look at him.

They all gave him funny looks as he passed them: but that’s _all_ they did. No attempts to rip his heart out, gnaw on his stringy flesh like wolves, carve his insides out, No.

All they did was feed the gluttonous sense of paranoia… hinting further psychosis.

 

“They _know_ something’s up, that I’m not one of them….

They’re the freaks now… and now _I’m_ the normal one.”

I’m still the black sheep…”

 

_It could be because you’re hunched over like a zombie, talking to yourself._

_Crazy is crazy, regardless of what species you are._

 

Brainz had continued his deranged trek through his alleged sea of hostility without incident, at least until a library ill with irony caught his attention.

_Sorry, a “Librarby”_

 

Through an association from “Libraries to Books to Teachers to Toriel.” Brainz found himself with recurring thoughts of her once again. What better way to alleviate those thoughts than with her book? He took a spot in the secluded emptiness behind the poorly named building, leaning against the cold bricks.

 

Brainz's gifted book was given a second chance, any mention of “magic” would be overlooked this time.

 

_It’s not fair to cast aside magic as impossible considering you just DID something impossible, which very well means it's NOT impossible. Quite VERY possible indeed._

_So you keep an open mind now, considering you don’t have an open wound anymore._

 

He flipped ahead a bit, taking a subtle notice to the differing styles of script.

 

“ _Trapped behind the barrier and fearful of further human attacks, we retreated._

_Far, far into the earth we walked, until we reached the cavern’s end._

_This was our new home, which we named…  ‘Home.’_

 

He flipped ahead some more.

“ _While monsters are mostly made of magic-_

 

**He flipped ahead a lot…**

_“... funerals are quite special. When monsters inadvertently pass on: their bodies dissociate into the very dust that composes them.  It is customary for the relatives and friends of the departed monster to spread this dust over their most cherished object._

_It is believed that in doing so, their essence will live on forever, never truly departing from us.”_

 

“That… actually makes sense?

  
Huh… it’s like spreading someone’s cremated ashes, like people….”

  
...where’s that thing about the war?

What did these guys do that was so  _bad_?"

 

“Hey yo!

What are you doing back here?”

 

Brainz almost dropped the book again (with less consequence though) from surprise, but a cleanup of fumbling to keep the thing off the snow sufficed.

What he saw standing before him... It was a little yellow thing, like a dinosaur wearing a straight jacket. It sounded of childhood innocence and wonder.

 

“Hey, Are you like, a kid too?”

 

The assumed “Kid” shook his head just slightly, as not to break a floored stare.

“No?..."

 

The actual child: shrugged without the use of arms.

“Oh I thought you were a kid like me, cause y’know you got a striped shirt, like me.”

The creature in the yellow striped garment, bounced giddily.

 

Brainz only released the quick anxiety with a long, exasperated sigh: looking at himself again. A good bout of sarcasm under his breath.

“ _Gee,_ thanks Toriel.

_*Mom*.”_

A pair of opposite colored eyes were rolled.

 

 


	4. Unfeasible Grinning.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just when you'd least expect it, you'll meet with that big smile.  
> All you gotta do is keep a cool head and go with it, share those big yellow teeth of yours with their pearly white ones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -DISCLAIMER-  
> There are brief mentions of racial terms and a potentially gratuitous amount of socially inappropriate language from Brainz in this chapter.  
> Please take mind in that the views and expressions from this character do not represent my own and are merely used in a fictitious manner.

 

“So whattaya doin back here, anyways?”

 

This was a mere child standing before the man, (well most of a child anyways) brought here from piqued attention, not malicious intent. With the lack of visible weapons or snarling looks, a bout of urgency was avoided.

 

Brainz was still uneasy by the looks of this encounter, but he gave an impression of indifference, as if this was normal life. Well _that_ was a lie.

“I’m just.. Errrrrruuh, reading… yeah, reading: that’s about it.”

 

The child gave him a funny look, “Why not the library then? We’re right behind it, yo. It’s always open, too: I thought everyone knew that.”

Suspicions were present, returning the tome to the duffel bag slung on his back, Brainz had only one phrase to dissuade these suspicions.

“I wanted to be alone.”

 

The response must've been _so good_ that it was funny because it made the kid blurt out laughing, Brainz didn’t know he was funny apparently. The yellow monster was still skeptical, but with humor.

 

“Yo- ho- hoo, you’re weird! You’re like the first time I seen anyone want to be all by themselves like that.

Heh, you’re funny!”

 

_You’re digging yourself into a hole, you oughta assume everything you say is gonna make it deeper._

“I wasn’t trying to be funny, but thanks I guess.” He wasn’t going to get this solitude back, so moving on was his next action. Lest him drawing attention from staying here too long.

 

Of course, the thing followed him, but a silver lining was there. If being alone was so unheard of here, then his companion was more of a yellow camouflage than a red mark.

“Oh yo, where are you goin? Or where are you from? Are you just visiting? Because I haven’t seen you before here, like nothing happens here anyways, well except if a human comes here or something.”

 

He stopped dead in his tracks, the thing proceeded a bit before realizing that it’s new “friend” stopped.

“Yo what’s up?”

 

Still on the scarce side of words, Brainz left out eye contact and only repeated what he heard. “Humans?  Whats… what’s the deal with those?”

 

It jumped, “What?  Well like, Don’tcha know that they think humans pass through here sometimes? I mean it’s like a _BIG_ deal when they do, and they’re even telling us that like, the next human would be the _BIGGEST_ deal of them all! Didn’t they tell you that when _you_ went to school?”

 

_You have the benefit of the doubt! Its never seen a human, let alone your mug!_

 

There were so many bases to cover up now, in the spiraling moment of which to do first, Brainz ran an answer through his mouth, before challenging the logistics.

 

“Uhm, _Erh,_ I dropped out of school actually, I wouldn’t know about that.”

 

Good thing the yellow juvenile wasn’t even looking up at the guy, it missed the impulsive impact of his hand to his face. However, the facepalm was ultimately out of place.

 

“What? I didn’t even know you could _do_ that-” Now it looked at Brainz with wonder.

“- _Whoooah…_ man that’s cool, yo dude, could I do that? I wish I could get out of school.”

 

“Oh yeah, you totally could, you kiddin me? I haven’t walked into a school since I was a kid like you.” He was loose with his temperament, pretending that he wasn’t gambling with his life with this facade of familiarity.

 

The glisten in this child’s eyes was enough to convince Brainz that he was making himself out to be a role model of sorts. Skipping school and becoming a renegade… that’s something to look up to, _totally._

 

“But uhn-” He cleared his mucous lousy throat, turning to the thing. “Talkin about people -er- _humans_ though, what's up with that?”  

 

“I dunno much yo, they keep saying how humans are both really _really_ bad, like the absolute worst ever! But then the next human that comes here would be really _really_ good, it’s really _really_ confusing yo. School is always confusing, but I never knew you didn’t have to do it-”

 

Considering he was asking a little kid about something to die over, this explanation would have to suffice for now… at least until he could actually find a moment to read the damned book he had.

 

The yellow child hadn’t stopped whatever it was saying after, Brainz tuned back in.

“- all we do is write about being hopeful and happy and stuff it’s really-” Just to interrupt the chatty thing.

 

“Oh _yeah_ now I remember-”

He lied.

“-Well hey it was nice meeting you: but I’ve gotta head home now. I don’t live very close to here, so it’s gonna take me a bit already, I’m gonna be a bit late as it is, I’m forgetting all sorts of stuff that I’ve gotta do.”

 

Didn’t work, as Brainz found himself before a rather sizable house adorned with Christmas decorations-

 

_But it’s March…_

 

\- the kid parked right in front of him.

“What do you mean? It doesn’t take _that_ long to get to the capitol if that’s where you live… is that where you’re going?”

 

_The capitol is your home, Sure…_

“ _Yeaaah…._ , I’m just late for something, so I gotta get back there.”

 

Whether a successful ruse, or an unspoken doctrine banning the act of leaving the snow covered town, the little yellow monster finally departed from Brainz’s companionship.

 

“Okay, bye mister! If you see mister Dreemurr in the capitol, tell him I said ‘hi!’”

It bounded off back into a pool of creatures, bouncing giddily before face planting into the snow.

 

“The capitol… so they’ve got government down here… that’s…..

Just…

Fucking….

great.”

One more moment of introspection before leaving.

“Who the fuck’s ‘Mister Dreamer ( _Dreemurr_ )  anyways?

 

He looked back at the thing bouncing jubilantly through the snow, face planting and then returning to its pace.

  
“Jesus… this thing…. The only freak that hasn’t tried to fuck me over yet, and it’s got no arms…. Poor kid.”

He shoved the bother away and went on his way to… well the Capitol apparently.

 

Back on the road to uncertainty, while anxious as always, Brainz felt the need to smirk at the sight of a pair of mailboxes he passed. One of them was just choking on letters, it reminded him of something out of “Looney Tunes” where one more letter would make the mailbox explode, envelopes raining from the sky moments after.

 

It really felt good to laugh at the little things, so marginal, yet it distracted you just long enough from the grim reality of the world: just enough so you’d feel like everything was OK. You weren’t trapped in a place where reality didn’t matter anymore, you didn’t make enemies just by being you, and you really weren’t in a hurry to leave for your life.

That particular delusion persisted for all of fifteen seconds, it was prematurely ended by the return of an irritating voice up ahead.

* * *

 

“NYAH HAH! AT LAST I HAVE FOUND YOU!”

 

A bout of heavy fog prevented him from seeing what was ahead, but it was all too recognizable. Confirmed by a disgruntled sigh.

“Awwwh.... shit.”

 

The irritating noise continued.

“SURPRISED?

WELL YOU SHOULDN’T BE, YOU SHOULD’VE KNOWN THAT NO HUMAN CAN GET PASSED THE GREAT PAPYRUS!  NOT EVEN THOSE AS CLEVER AS YOU!”

 

A menacing silhouette took form on the veil of fog ahead, punctuating this standoff.

 

“AS CLEVER AS YOU ARE WITH YOUR DUBIOUS SUBTERFUGE, YOU WERE FOOLISH ENOUGH TO TRY TO AVOID FACING ME! AND WHILE I CANNOT BLAME YOU BECAUSE I CANNOT BE BESTED: TRYING TO HIDE FROM ME WON'T WORK EITHER!”

 

In the motion to go ballistic, Brainz had a digression.

“Wait, how did you get in front of me? Am I going the wrong way?”

 

_Did that asshole point you in the wrong direction? This was planned wasn’t it, you know it was._

_You know he did and he’s probably watching you right now with that huge fuck’n grin._

 

Brainz had to look around, the feeling of being watched usually shouldn’t persist like it did.

 

Papyrus merely laughed at him, the noise further eroded what could’ve been desire for a rational encounter.  “OH HUMAN… SO NAIVE… SO IGNORANT, I PITY YOU. YOU COULD’VE NEVER KNOWN WHAT AN ADVERSARY YOU WOULD FACE. THE GAME WAS OVER BEFORE IT STARTED!

I ALMOST WANT TO GIVE YOU A SECOND CHANCE WITH A HEAD START!  BUT EVEN THAT WOULDN’T BE FAIR!

 

There was no way Papyrus could see the look of genuine bewilderment, if he could: then he’d be proud of it.

 

But a lack of a sarcastic tone would have to suffice as an accomplishment for now.

“What? I didn’t even….

That doesn’t even answer my-”

 

A blatant interruption

“ENOUGH! I CAN SEE RIGHT THROUGH YOUR CHARADES, HUMAN. YOU’RE GOING TO TRY TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH ME SO THEN I WOULD BE ABLE TO CAPTURE YOU! BUT IT WILL NEVER WORK!!”

 

“What?!

Where are you getting this from? I haven’t said more than-”

 

Another blatant (now infuriating) interruption.

“I CAN RELATE TO YOU HUMAN… EVERYBODY CANNOT RESIST WANTING TO MAKE _MY_ ACQUAINTANCE, BUT IT WILL NOT WORK! FOR YOU ARE TALKING TO A FUTURE MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD. BUT WORRY NOT HUMAN!

ONCE I BRING YOU IN AND RECEIVE MY FAME, FORTUNE, AND FRIENDS: THEN _I_ WILL BE _YOUR_ FRIEND!

THEN WE CAN BOTH BE IN GREAT FORTUNE!”

 

Brainz was far passed the shallow aggravation of this situation, this was pissing him off.

“ _What?!_

Where in the blighting fuck are you pulling this out of?!

I know it’s not _me_ because I haven’t said _Jack-Shit_ to you!

Why the hell would I even-”

 

In one ear that didn’t exist and out the other aforementioned ear, Papyrus opened his gaping maw again to interrupt for a fourth time.

“HUMAN, I AM MOST CERTAIN THAT YOU MUST BE FULL OF MYSTERY AS TO HOW I BRILLIANTLY TRACKED YOU, BUT FEAR NOT AS I AM NOT A SKELETON WITH SECRETS SO I SHALL SHARE THE METHOD TO YOUR CAPTURE!”

 

Like Brainz would be permitted to actually say anything, a frustrated scream exploded inside of him: muffled by the motionless state of absolute disgust. The only thing on his face that did move was a vein, throbbing angrily.

 

Papyrus continued as valiantly as he was.

“YOU SEE HUMAN, FOR AS CLEVER AS YOU WERE AVERTING MY PUZZLES OUT OF FEAR OF THEIR DIFFICULTY, YOU LEFT BEHIND SUCH A CLUE THAT WOULD LEAD TO THIS VERY MOMENT IN DESTINY.”

 

The human flinched out of his state exhaling like a released balloon, completely switching behavior. He actually would ask a question and forget that nothing he said had been considered to this point.

“Wait wait wait hold up… I did?-”

Stuttering and patting himself off looking for the lack of something.

“Bu… wha… du… do…

W-what did I lose?”

 

He averted his attention away from the figure standing before him to rifle through his belongings on the ground, becoming more agitated as he didn’t find his answer.

 

“HERE, HUMAN: DOES THIS RING YOUR BELLS?”

 

Papyrus triumphantly held the reclaimed item as some sort of trophy… the trophy though was completely indistinguishable in the fog.

 

“I can’t see that, you know….

I can _barely_ see you as it is.”

Brainz was back to contempt, even crossing his arms just so muscle memory could confirm he was more than tired of the situation. It was a step up from blowing an artery.

 

“This uhh..-” He made air quotes despite using them to explain why Papyrus wouldn’t be able to see his gesture.

 

“- _Dramatic fog_ really doesn’t help, I’d probably ask how you can even have fog down here, but I’m still waiting on how you got snow first, But umm..”

 

He couldn’t sound any less amused, very monotonous, riddled with contempt for everything, almost normal.

 

“I mean you got _this_ asshole over there-”

And “there” is where he pointed to.

“-throwing manufactured ice blocks into the water for no reason…”

 

Icewolf got no respect for their job, Brainz continued.

“I’m sure that uhm… yeah.. That’s-”

Having the train of thought derail, eight hundred tons of figmental steel destroying an already defunct station, along with the impatient little dance coming from Papyrus, Brainz stopped. Sarcastic as all ever.

“-Yeah… but um, oh no… I can’t see shit, that’s the important part.”

 

“OH DEAR… HERE YOU GO, HUMAN.”

 

The adversary began to approach with an outstretched arm, Brainz probably could’ve taken mind that this thing was closing on him, but he was more surprised that it paid attention to what he said.

Sarcastically of course, eyes rolled on the first exaggeration.

 

“Oh _woow_ you’re not deaf? you’d have me fooled, I’d just assume it was because you don’t have ears, or just cause you’re an assho-

The insult couldn’t have finished, when the recipient was close enough to make out what was on his face (A shit eating grin) and in his gloved hand.  It made both of them stop.

 

A piece of paper, yellowed from age, lousy with wrinkles from being clutched so vigorously by a skeleton.

 

And again, Brainz proved his mercurial allegations, soulless sarcasm flaked, general bewilderment left him standing there tilting his head.

 

“What is that- a dirty piece of paper? When did I drop a-

 

_Wait….”_

 

He practically convulsed, he took in a gasp, more like a reversed scream. Brainz hunched over rapidly, tearing into his possessions with jerky, panicked movements while double-

_Triple_

_Quadruple_

-taking at the piece of paper that triggered him in Papyrus’s hand, while looking for the same thing in his bag.

When he couldn’t find it and realized it wouldn’t be there if this bleached asshole was holding it right there…. Brainz curbed the erratic movements and retrieved something _else_ from the bag.

 

He pointed it at Papyrus, then brought back the monotonous growl from before, only this time the hostility in removed the chance for sarcasm, and yet he sounded calm, easily a contrast to his state of mine. It was similar to being faced by a wolverine sitting still, ready to rip your limbs off.

This “wolverine” was going to blow them off with a shotgun.

 

“I don’t know how you fucking got that off of me, but you’re gonna give it back.”

 

Papyrus actually stopped grinning, better late than never did it occur to him, that something was _wrong._

 

“WELL… OF COURSE I AM… I’M…. HOLDING IT RIGHT HERE AND-”

 

Even though Papyrus was still loud as ever, Brainz was able to interrupt _him_ for a change, and just with that deceptively calm voice again… sounding a little less calm though.

 

“Give it back… _now.”_

He racked the shotgun, unnecessary being that he already did a ways back and ended up ejecting an unused shell into the snow, but he did it because the sound it made… that sound was _scary._

 

Papyrus began to sweat…. Somehow. Beads of liquid existed and ran down an increasingly frowning expression. The confidence was beginning to wither.

“HUMAN? I AM GOING TO RIGHT HERE AND-”

“I said, give, it, **_back._ ** ”

His grip on the firearm tightened to a strangle, a precaution as he began to quake with fury.

 

The request still wasn’t taken to mind, just like anything else he said.

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND, IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOU? YOU MUST NEED MY-”

 

The last interruption Papyrus would get to experience was an unexpected zenith. A loud cry erupted from the human..

“ **Fucking give it back,** **_NOW!”_ **

 

   It was the loudest sound he could utter, but it wouldn’t be the loudest he could manage as the sound of thunder would explode into the air right after.

Papyrus jumped from the surprise, reflexively covering his source of hearing in the frightened expectation that another blast would follow. The piece of paper departed from his grip, fluttering near the small grouping of craters in the snow.

 

The next shot was very unlikely to miss, that was barely a question. It was **if** there was going to be another shot fired. Brainz used the pump correctly this time to prepare for such a killing.

 

But because something happened in a step to what he wanted, he didn’t have to speak after the outburst. It was quiet too, just the sound of heavy breathing with a touch of ringing, Papyrus was completely silent, trying to recover from the scare. Utterly stalled regardless of the smoking barrel nudging at him while the human wielding it retrieved the coveted paper.

“You… you stay back… I’ve had enough of you and everything down here... “

Back to the facade of hostile calmness, he kept the shotgun trained right for Papyrus’s head. He crammed the yellow sheet into his pocket.

 

“I’ve had enough… you keep giving me more and… I’m gonna put this thing in your eye… and then I’m gonna turn it on myself.”

 

Papyrus actually lowered his voice, he rattled with fear, but only because he didn’t know what was going on.

“H-HUMAN?  W-W-WHAT WAS THAT? WHAT HAPPENED?”

 

Then he actually paid a thought to the weapon that was mere feet from where his vital organs would be if he had any.

 

“WHAT IS THAT THING?”

 

Brainz scoffed with spite, completing it with something he performed but never meant, a large grin, exposing that jagged silver tooth. He didn’t sound as simply “overjoyed” as he looked. Still so calm, flipped from what he just did.

 

“Oh really now? You actually _want_ to hear someone other than yourself now huh? It only took me screaming at the top of my lungs to get there mm? And you really don’t know what this is huh?”

He caressed it like a child for a moment, then held it up in mockery of how Papyrus brandished his ‘stolen’ prize.

 

“ _This_ … is a Stevens Model 77E pump action trench shotgun. The very one we used in Vietnam to blow the gooks away. It was made for dealing with funny faced assholes, like you. You pull this trigger here about once or twice, and you add some more slits into their faces.”

Papyrus remained without motion, only awe. Brainz disregarded any notion of firearms safety and nuzzled the barrel right under his chin.

 

“It can also take your own face clean off too, right about here; and then you can rejoice at the thought of some other schlub having to pick up bits of teeth, brains, bits of bones for you… all sprawled about in the snow… in a big red slushee….

Yeah.. _alllll_ over the fuck’n place.”

 

Now that he thought of it, he started to chuckle. He was starting to sound about as rapturous as Papyrus was before he had ruined the fun. Brainz looked like a child twirling the head remover like a toy, giggling deviantly.

 

Papyrus started to join him in laughter, obviously feigning it. He was completely baffled, losing more confidence the more he observed this display of corroded sanity.

This was quite so: nervous laughter.

 

Seeing Papyrus so uncomfortable only made Brainz laugh even harder. It was almost hysterical.

“It’s funny because it helps you with pains in your ass, but then you can become a pain in the ass after you die! And why care about hypocrisy when you’re _dead!”_  

 

Papyrus had finally, a moment of implied lucidity he stopped pretending to enjoy himself while his attention was affixed to the shotgun: still dancing wildly. He couldn’t sound any less sure of himself, his felt machismo was gone

 

“H-HUMAN…

THAT…. THING….

IT CAN HURT YOU?”

 

Brainz stopped his childish behavior, being completely stalled by just how “blunt” this sentient skeleton was. He was painfully obvious, slightly educational, and even broadly sarcastic. Now it was time to give up rationality.

So he threw out his arms in exasperation

 

“Well no _SHIT_ sherlock! I just goddamned _told_ you, even putting it to my throat, hot! Of course it’s going to kill me, it’s a weapon, you skin lacking moron! I could just as well blow my own fucking brains out, less blow you away with it: but I think i’m gonna be more likely to kill myself than your dumb fucking ass-”

_You’re yelling, if a shotgun blast wasn’t enough to attract everyone within a mile radius, then you will._

 

“-I mean holy shit, you’re stupid! I’ve only had enormous displeasure of having to deal with you for what couldn’t be more than _TEN_ minutes at the most, which is still.

_Waaaaaaaaay_

Too fuck’n long not for me to want to kill myself.”

 

Papyrus gave an overwrought, melodramatic gasp.

“HUMAN… I-I DIDN’T HAVE AN IDEA THAT-”

 

Brainz spent another shell aimed at the cavernous ceiling above, the blast silenced Papyrus with another flinch to cover his (ears?) while smithereens of stalactites rained from above.

 

“ **_Shut the fuck up!”_ **

**_-Ka-chunk!-_ **

Another smoking red tube fell into the snow.

“ _I’m_ talking now, not you… I swear to god, I will end both of us….

 

But yes! To answer your  incredibly stupid, not to mention irritating question that suggests you only listen to yourself…

 

Yes! I can very easily ‘Hurt Myself’ with a twelve gauge shotgun, which I’d rather do right now in this moment of synapse, than to just risk the brain tumor from having to speak to you any fucking longer!”

* * *

 

That’s when it happened, in the midst of the excessive lifetime that the standoff lived… when it couldn't be more obvious who owned the momentum: at least verbally.

 

When the creature of loud words decided on louder actions: everything was about to get louder.

 

A blunt impact slammed into Brainz's gut without warning. It sent him and the shotgun to the icy ground, the winded yelp he made was made insignificant by the accidental discharge of his weapon hitting the ground just feet away. A tree branch was murdered from the blast, bleeding pine needles to the ground.

Papyrus only flinched this time from the noise and instantly made for the smoking weapon on the ground while Brainz forced himself back to his feet, still doubled over as he was on the ground.

 

_He started it! You’re going to rip him apart like a wishbone now._

 

The human growled furiously to push the horrid pain in his abdomen to the side, his focus was the same thing that skidded away on the ice when he dropped it. Brainz scrambled to grab it-

 

-Another strike, an unnoticed projectile winged Brainz in his shoulder, sending him spiraling down to the ground with an pained snarl, an outstretched arm vainly attempted to desperately acquire the means of self defense mere feet away.

He turned his head to see the white monster advancing towards him with arms outstretched-

 

_Deja-vu_

\- but there was no fear this time, he bolted to his feet again: pushing the pain out of relevance as liquid fury coursed through him, veins throbbed and eyes became as red as the liquid that surged through them.

 

Papyrus narrowed the gap down to feet, primed to capture his human with a bear hug ensnare. “COME HERE HUMAN, I’VE GOT YOU.. HERE I GOT-”

Brainz had obliged, he started a full sprint directly at Papyrus, and just as a big smile formed itself on his adversary’s face…

Brainz sent both of them to the ground with a full dropkick, striking both of Papyrus’s kneecaps. They snapped backwards, the sound was similar to a firecracker. Papyrus cried out loudly from the blow.

 

_Go… GO… GO!!!!_

_He’s down! Get the gun! HURRY!_

 

He lurched onto his feet once more and bolted for his ballistic salvation, with only mere feet from contact, he heard Papyrus booming from behind, off the ground only supported by an arm, while the other one waved frantically.

 

“NO!

DO NOT GET ANY CLOSER!!”

 

Brainz shot his attention behind him to see another projectile on course for his trigger arm touching down on the weapon, thanks to Papyrus telegraphing this, his attack was flanked by a roll to the ground, grabbing the gun before getting back up.

 

A nerve wracked laugh, sounding equally smug as it was _damn_ angry.

“Yeah nice try, you _asshole!_ Not gonna hit me with your…-”

 

He was inflicted with realization seeing that  he just dodged a large femur bone. Now there was disgust and awe in the voice.

 

“What the fuck?! Are you throwing parts of your body at me?!

 _Awwwhg!_ You sick fuck!

What the fuck is _wrong_ with you?!

Where the fuck are you even getting those?!”

 

Papyrus stumbled off of the ground, unsteady from his harmed joints. He wouldn’t answer the question, only reaffirming his command loudly.

“HUMAN, GET AWAY FROM IT!”

He made a run for the man, despite the trauma to his legs retarding his pace.

 

Brainz jerked into a stance, holding the gun under his arm due to the bruising on his shoulder. A final shred of virtue… a chance to avoid this finality, came out.

The shotgun racked loudly, and glared soullessly.

 

Papyrus didn’t stop nor slow down at the threat, he only picked up more speed, and from his declining distance Brainz could see something flickering in an empty eye socket.

 

_Enough is enough._

A tinge of red flushed into his eye, Brainz waited for point blank range and pulled the trigger.

**_-CLICK!-_ **

_You, IDIOT._

 

Before he could even begin to regret wasting the ammunition he once had, Papyrus’s grip joined the firearm to begin wrestling to sever Brainz from the empty weapon.

“LET GO, LET GO RIGHT NOW! I WILL MAKE YOU LET GO!”

Papyrus had lifted the gun as high as his grand height could reach, Brainz struggled fiercely not to let go, dangling like a child isolated on monkey bars on a playground.

 

Papyrus was able to pick up the weapon with the human still welded to the thing, shaking it vigorously did naught but agitate the guy stuck to it ever further.

“JUST… LET…. GO!!”

 

Brainz wouldn’t, the patronizing request would be the final transgression against him, he had been lifted up enough to swing his legs freely, he worked with the momentum from being shaken like a bug on a pencil.

 

He focused all of his core, planting each of his steel toed boots forcefully into Papyrus’s eye sockets.

 

Papyrus cried out again, the shotgun and Brainz slammed onto the ice from being dropped. Papyrus had to caress the holes in his head, evidently he could feel pain and from the sound he made…. It hurt _alot._

 

Getting dropped 3 feet onto ice, squarely on your back didn’t feel too good either. Enough to incapacitate Brainz, at least from being ambulant.

 

Papyrus didn’t have enough though, because he turned right around from his pained stupor and went right back for the man sprawled flat on his back.

“HUMAN… I AM GOING TO GET THAT AWAY FROM YOU, NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU HURT ME… DON’T WORRY…. I _WILL_ DO THIS…”

The soreness was easy to make out even from that voice that never ceased to yell, Papyrus limped, squinting his damaged vision down to the immobile guy on the ground.

 

It was all over, it hurt too much to get up. Brainz eased backwards vainly to get away: wincing from the physical misery running up his back. He clutched the very coveted shotgun tightly, like the comforting hand from a family member moments before doom.

 

_You feel a sense of impending demise, riding the coattails of shivers running up your back. Wait…._

 

He saw it in his peripheral vision at first… but then robbed his attention from the approaching monster. It shimmered against the frozen ground, amidst its identical brothers scattered around..

Only this one _still had it’s primer…_

 

“The shell! I never used it!”

Frantic, hopeful voices encouraged him from his psyche

 

“ _The shotgun_ … get the fuck over here!”

 

He reached for the lifeline, straining all of his muscles that stabbed him with pain, Papyrus was mere feet away, he had to do this. Anything to prevent him from being captured, anything from being taken away-

His fingertips pressed on the precious paper tube, it rolled right into his palm, it _wasn’t_ hopeless, he _wasn’t_ fucked.

He could do this, he could fix this, all he had to do-

**_-SHCK!-_ **

**_-Ka-CHNK!-_ **

was.

“ **_GET….. AWAY!!”_ **

 

The gun went off.

* * *

 

The last of the gunshot echoed away, and then it was silent. There was nothing, no river, no wind, no life. It had been hushed with the concluding trigger pull.

Dead silence.

 

He had to perk his head up to see what he did, that was all he could do: still on the ground from the impact. Papyrus lay on his back, just like Brainz…. Very still and very silent.

 

There was smoke, emitting from the barrel of the gun… and wisping into air from the perfect hole bore into Papyrus’s once proud ensemble.

 

_Point blank…. No spread from buckshot, the wound is the size of a closed fist._

 

Everything hurt, trying to get up made that more obvious: But Brainz would be the first and only to get up at this time, shaken and gasping from the exertion of a task made difficult from the pain.

Clutching his stomach and now truly empty weapon, he stood trembling in front of what he did.

 

“Jesus fucking christ….

Ohh my god….

Oh my god…”

 

Whispering… he couldn’t go any louder…too unsteady.

A silver lining was: at least he could actually inspect this thing for once without it spastically dancing or jumping around. Papyrus’s eyes were closed, no eyelids or anything… just closed, but the absurdity of that wasn’t really a concern here.

 

“I killed it… I _fucking…._ killed it….

I killed something, wasn’t supposed to be alive….

But I killed it…”

 

Something inside made him laugh, his wheezy laugh. Brainz dropped the murder weapon and buried his face into his guilty hands, continuing to laugh until he let out an audible and prolonged groan.

 

_Why do you care? You wanted to kill it anyways, so what if that was a really close call?_

_You did good, he’s not going to bother anymore so you oughta be happy._

“Fuck….

Me.”

 

The momentary lapse of regret was fleeting at best, because Brainz’s “victim” shot up from the ground, if he were in a casket, it’d be a reference to every vampire movie.

“NYAH!”

 

“ _Holy fucking shit!”_

 

Papyrus dusted himself off and jumped right back to his feet, Brainz bounded back in a single moment, snatched the not so guilty shotgun off of the ground and fumbled in a state of terror to point it in the right direction again.

 

“NYEH… HEH… NOW WHERE WERE WE HUMAN?”

 

The human was still staring right at Papyrus, or now **through** him, his jaw trying to reach the floor. He only replied, futily squeezing the gun trigger in a trance like state, giving a steady rhythm of **_-clicks!-_ **

 

“NYEH?

WHAT’S WRONG HUMAN? IS THERE SOMETHING ON MY HOT FACE?”

About as clueless as ever it seemed until Papyrus showed signs of movement, inspecting himself before the delayed reaction to a realization that you had just been shot… point blank… with a shotgun.

 _Then_ he gasped in horror, there it was.

 

“MY… MY

MY BATTLE BODY!!!!

OH NO!”

That was his priority, not his own well being, or the good of his people but instead how the buckshot left it’s mark onto his once vibrant attire. You could see right through his missing ribs, all the way through his once glamorous orange cape, caked with dust.

 

That didn’t mean that Brainz didn’t cause damage though… just none of it seemed to be physical: or at least the only form of it being acknowledged was emotional, because Papyrus just made a break for it, passing right by the human.

 

“NYAH!!!

I HAVE TO FIX THIS!!!!”

 

He turned with a request to the guy who just shot him as he ran.

“HUMAN!!!

WAIT RIGHT THERE!!

I WILL BE RIGHT BACK, I PROMISE!!”

He ran right into the village; like a chicken newly unburdened of its head, with a huge hole in his chest, for everyone to gasp at and then to look ahead at a sinister looking man wearing a striped shirt wielding a shotgun.

 

The least Brainz could’ve done after shooting Papyrus would be to honor the simple request. Of course _that_ didn’t happen: No.

Instead he waited for his legs to actually permit him to run the other direction, that happened right after a good minute of holding that pose with his empty gun, as if Papyrus was still standing there.

 

He snatched his bag and frantically hobbled away just as quickly as Papyrus leaving eyesight, and a bunch of curious faces looking down at him entered.

 

He ran as far as the fleeting adrenaline would let him, and stopped just at the point where the need to run far away was outweighed by the intense pain all over him. He stopped and crumpled over onto the ground, clutching his stomach, whining.

 

“Ooooh _Gaaaaawd!_ I can’t fucking do this! I can’t I can’t… what was _that??!_

What is _THIS?!_

What is _anything anymore?!_

_Who_

_Why_

_What… the fuck?!”_

 

He let out a long guttural groan as the ability to ignore pain dropped to “0”

_You feel like you’re going to throw up, probably the trauma in your gut talking. And the overbearing anxiety, And the searing pain in your-_

“No more…”

 

As much as balling up and feeling sorry for himself worked in the short term, he had to press on, he didn’t destroy the only shred of subtlety he had only to run a couple of yards and collapse into a pathetic mound on the ground.

 

“... man up… shut up…. Get up.”

He dumped the unneeded mass of frantic questions regarding what he just witnessed. He needed the room in his psyche to work on what he did and needed to do,  _now._

 

“I just… tried to commit murder… and it didn’t work….

I did this, on the loudest… most obnoxious sentient thing to exist down here, let alone the entire world: and it didn’t _even_ do anything-”

 

He couldn’t “un” double over, he had to take a look at the damage: a tinge of bright red or discoloration on his stomach would assure him that he was already dead.

 

“- cept, make me out to be a criminal: some things never fucking change…. Oh boy.”

 

That exclamation was for what he saw under the sweater, quite a large blotch of purple and green the size of a liver: a massive bruise, the chance for internal bleeding was still there, but Brainz wouldn’t be able to confirm it without going into shock later on.

 

In a way, this was worse than knowing from the get go that you were going to die, that lack of “sureness” or “knowingness” of what’s going to happen to you. The kind of conditions that the anxiety inflicted on you is the worst kind, _yours_ . That was what truly got to you down here, not the sight of actual monsters… no. _That_ excitement sorta dies down along with the “Holy fucking shit! A talking skeleton!” Moment.

 

The fact that he had seen a talking skeleton or a juvenile dinosaur down here just forced the idea ahead, these things _did_ just exist down here, this kind of utter tommyrot _was_ feasible. If these exceptional anomalies were real, what could you be in for in just the next chamber?  

 

It was the free reign his imagination had on him, on what he would run into as he delved further into his insanity, his nightmare made real: only made worse because it was _his_ imagination. Fed to the point of gluttony by the demons that approached him down here.

Truly, this liability to envision the worst case scenario would do little for self preservation, not because it was all for nought, no. Because ultimately… _your_ worst case scenario is nothing compared what lies ahead. Preparing for events that would never occur, eternally unfit to face your future.

**The first ring of hell.**

* * *

 

 

“Where the fuck are they?

I had em in a little-

Cmon! This hurts!”

 

_45\. Caliber Colt ACP rounds;_

_12 Gauge 00 buckshot,_

_Ace roll bandages,_

_Clump of Tootsie Roll Wrappers._

 

Brainz winced and stood up, the duffel bag didn’t have what he was looking for, that was objective on the 4th search he did.

 

_Acetaminophen, Hydrocodone: Brand name ‘Vicodin’: Street Name ‘Green Pills’_

 

Brainz had started to keep himself stocked with the small green tablets around the time he lost his privilege to hospitals, doctors, clinics: those places you go to when you’re dying and would rather not do that, all under the confines of the same government that wanted him very dead, quite counter intuitive.

Who needs medical help when you can help yourself to illegal Category II narcotics? It’s all the good feeling from feeling OK, without having to _be_ OK! You’d never feel better when you eventually bled out or succumbed to shock! They were highly addictive, so the smart thing to do would be to carry a whole bunch of them, right? Appeasement always worked.

 

Brainz didn’t consider himself to be all that smart though, and found himself craving the pain killers while he amounted to precisely none.

 

“I don’t get it, I remember having to dump the rest out of the bottle because it took up space… I _know_ I was annoyed cuz’ I had a stupid air bubble in the sandwich baggie I put them in, so I could keep em in my….”

Eyes widened and clarity hit him.

-” Hoodie Pockets…”

 

 

Brainz paused to stare ahead at nothing, while his arms rested against his sides, where pockets _would’ve_ been if he had them.

“And then they were in my pockets… and then I fell and Toriel-”

 

Out of nowhere, the sensation of being stabbed caused Brainz to lurch over violently, he began to retch uncontrollably and erratically, but his muscle contractions would never amount to a bout of vomiting. The pulses persisted for a full minute, nothing was expelled except nauseated grunts.

The dry heaving subsided with Brainz spitting out the round of excessive saliva drooling from his mouth. A good shiver convulsed through him on the last couple of hawks.

 

“Don’t start already, _please_ don’t start this shit, I don’t _need_ this.”

 

By all means, getting sick enough to vomit himself inside out wasn’t a new ailment, it was just something else to grieve him…. There was a bit of peculiarity in this fit though, there was bright red clouding up in his gobs of saliva, at least _more_ red than usual. He didn’t lose the small bit of sustenance he had back at the bar all over the ground which was nice… but it seemed a little too dark to be ketchup and yet a bit too bright to be blood.

“Ugh.. whatever, if I’m dead, I’m dead.. Fine. I’d just rather be dead while high off of painkillers, or just not in pain right now. But that’s right… Toriel did throw them away with the rest of my damn stuff."

 

Aftershock, he suppressed the latecomer to his retches.

 

“You know what?... I’m not gonna subject myself to this, I think I’m going to go back... I didn't see an single garbage can in that house, or half of the house.... but fuck it, I wanna go back."

 

He could argue Vicodin withdrawal was the main pulling factor to go back, but that wouldn't be true.

 

He turned right around, and embarked to undo the progress he had to fight for.

“Maybe she can actually fix this too, she undid a bullet wound, made  _me_ feel better...

and not alone."

 

_NO! You can’t go back._

He halted dead in his tracks.

 

_You know very well what you did to her, you BETRAYED her, you lied right to her face and you KNOW it. You shot somebody, if you go back, she’s going to HATE you forever. It’s too late to turn back, don’t be a COWARD._

 

He started to get nauseous again, because he was right, and it was a sickening truth.

 

_Turn around, stop being such a crybaby, and for your own absurd sakes, load up that  damn gun and keep it close! You don’t know when that smiling fool is coming back!!!_

“Fuck… Of all the things to be right about, I get to pick the worst.”

 

It was inherently true, Brainz took that strongly felt “promise” he made to Toriel and blew it away. The first soul to treat him like a person and he treats them like trash. 

 

This would be his first genuine regret he had down here, at least one to remember all the way to purgatory when the time would come.

 

He turned right back around, back to the path uncertainty and sighed woefully.

“This shit is why I’m not good with promises… I fucking hate myself so much sometimes...”

It was first promise he made in years, and of course it had to be tempted by a persistent skeleton that didn't fall to being shot by a shotgun, seemed legit.

 

He could feel something other than the aching pain inside of him, felt weird, it made him feel just as bad but it wasn't physical.

 

_You hate yourself all the time, you can have all the time in the world to hate yourself when you get out of this god forsaken place._

 

"That's my only incentive to keep going, only thing I got is negative incentive to go back... because I fucked up again."

 

_Stop giving yourself grief over this, you have more than enough to tide you over, and think about this... she’s going to probably be dead anyways, you know what you’re running away from, you TOLD her what you were running away from, and you left her there as lonely as you._

_Of course it's YOUR fault, of course you fucked up: but you need to get out of here before you get to pay for it!_

 

“Oh yes… I almost forgot about that, I was wondering why I was forced to go this way for a while, I keep forgetting that my whole existence  is bleak… heh that’s…. Uh.”

 

Another stop, Brainz just gave himself a good skeptical look aimed into nothingness.

 

“Wait… who the fuck am I talking to?”

Nobody answered, and Brainz would have been hard pressed to presume he was going to answer himself.

 

“Right… I also forgot, that I’m actually _literally_ crazy! I'm giving myself my own terrible pep talks and failing at that!

 _Soooo,_ forgetful today… how could I be?”

 

He was able to make a sarcastic remark, that meant he was still somewhat sane, back to walking.

 

Seeing that this particular incident had come to a close, Brainz was able to take a look at the little things around him, such as how the arctic scenery seemed to recede. The air itself began to feel less hostile too: it was starting to feel like an actual cave for once. No more convenient tone setting fog!

He huddled on, his insides still hurt a bunch, but one foot in front of the other, that was the sailor’s way. He entered a small chamber, devoid of snow and cold, but not life…

His attempt at a whopping ten minutes without being harassed was put to the grave by that familiar voice. 

* * *

 

“what’s up jumpy? haven’t seen ya in awhile.”

 

That big smile, sitting behind another lookout booth, this one didn’t have some kind of wanted poster with Brainz’s gray face on it yet created five seconds ago just to further mentally scar him, how surprising. Something else was probably in stock.

 

“What?”

 

Sans spoke up.

“i said, what’s goin on there jumpy? it’s been awhile since we had the chance to break away from our busy jobs, how’re you doin?”

 

Brainz reiterated with no energy in him.

“How am I doing?”

 

Sans smirked and nodded, “yeah.”

 

No emotion attached itself to the phrases he uttered, if the white thing behind the booth wanted to smite him for what he did to it’s brother then it would’ve happened already… no reason to lie, Brainz really didn’t have the capacity for it.

 

He approached the counter and stared right into Sans’s empty head without any form of intentions, utterly indifferent.

 

“Well… _Bad…._ I am doing… bad..

Yeah!.... Bad!”

Even his exclamations weren’t trying.

 

“oh, havin a bad time are ya? why’s that?”

 

“As if _you_ wouldn’t know… but, well if you want a skim of it-”

He gently massaged his bruised shoulder and slapped the shotgun onto the counter, Sans paid it no mind.

 

“- I’m having a pretty bad time so far… I mean, I got hit by a bone, a couple of times actually, and it kinda hurts a lot…”

 

Patronizing brow raise, it was only complimentary of course.

“oh really?”

 

He still went with it… unwilling to make a show for this thing.

“Yeah… it does, I got a, _really_ big bruise on my stomach, could be worse… I dunno yet, I feel kinda sick actually, but that’s probably just a side product of me hating myself a-lot and not the hemorrhaging in my insides." 

 

“mm-hmm.”

 

“But, enough about me?

You um… what are _you_ doing here?”

 

Sans shrugged and leaned back smugly on his chair.

“what? haven’t you ever seen a guy working two jobs before?”

 

“Uh-huh… sure, what I really wanna know is how you got here before me even, when I _just_ left the same bar you were still having your-”

Squinted eyelids and skeptical air quotes, Brainz must’ve been feeling better.

“-*break*.”

 

“i took a shortcut.”

 

Some feigned surprise with a big sigh.

“Oh! Of course, silly me. I should’ve guessed…

I’m just such a _silly_ guy, that’s my whole life, _silly_ my whole world is just _silly_.”

 

That came out a bit more sardonic than it should’ve been, but of course: Sans wasn’t going to pay any mind to it.

 

“heh, and you’re just on time too, that's not silly.”

 

Brainz whipped out of his attitude, defenses were rearing to go up.

“For _what…”_

 

“i’m bout to take my union regulated break.”

 

And he failed again, Brainz was genuinely agitated once more, something he knew gave this creep his jollies. But as much as he didn’t want to give a show, here he was displaying his brand of outrage. Sans flipped that switch on just like that.

 

“What?!

But you just _had_ a break, I was there! It’s been only ten minutes! I can still taste ketchup in my mouth-”

 

That probably wasn't from almost vomiting on the snow with an aftertaste of stomach acid and heartburn.

 

“- you don’t have a break now, you’re just fucking with my head like you’ve been doing all day!”

 

And that momentum was handled by Sans and sent right back to Brainz.

“all day? it’s only been ten minutes right?”

 

To Sans’s credit, he didn’t chuckle when Brainz emulated the sound of a failing carburetor while pounding his head against the counter. The miniature tantrum _did_ look pretty funny, because another creature previously overlooked was snickering in the corner of the room standing next to a large ornate flower.

 

Brainz heard the snickering through his disgruntled noises and snapped right at the thing, his cheeks were a good shade of red.

 

“What the fuck are _you_ looking at, you fishbowl wearing fuck?”

 

It stopped laughing, and looked away with a pout.

 

Sans continued,

“anyways two jobs means two breaks, i’m gonna head to that place in town, you ever been there? it’s called Grillby’s, food’s pretty good there, wanna come?”

 

“ **We were just-** **_THERE!!!!”_ **

Brainz practically bounded over the counter into Sans’s lack of a face, much too close for comfort, the strings on Sans’s jacket swayed with every angry bit of exhalation on them. Sans didn’t care of course, he probably didn’t care about that twitchy _infuriated_ look on the face two inches from his, either.

 

“heh, that’s funny.”

 

“ _FUNNY?!_

_WHAT’S SO FUNNY?!_

**_ME?!”_ **

 

Sans missed his opportunity for the classic “Say it, don’t spray it.” line: bits of saliva actually went inside of his open head which was actually pretty gross. But like _always_ he didn’t even acknowledge it, but replied just as sure of himself as ever.”

 

“nah, it’s the other type-a funny: the one missing the ha-ha, not my favorite.”

 

“ _WHAAT?!”_ He whined angrily, forgetting that he wasn’t going to get an answer that probably wouldn’t cause an aneurysm.

 

“i thought you had green eyes all this time.”

 

Sans had released the knot on the balloon, in just an instant, all that anger dissipated into nothing, one moment Brainz would figure out how to strangle someone without a windpipe, and the next: he was speaking at a civil volume.

 

“Wait, what?”

 

“your eyes, i thought they were green when i first met ya, but upon a closer **_look,_ ** i **_see_ ** the error in my ways.”

 

Brainz backed away slowly, completely diffused from himself, he felt awkward now considering he pulled a break in anger management simply unheard of, not _that_ fast. He really didn’t know how to respond to this.

“My eyes? What do you mean my-

Both of them? I mean-

What are you-”

 

He parsed mentally for a moment, then presented his odd ocular feature.

“They’re _supposed_ to be green, that’s what I was born with, but this one turned red like I’m an albino or something, you didn’t see that?”

 

“oh nah, you’re fine now.”

 

He stopped poking at his left eye, but would resume with more twitchiness.

“Fine now, what’s _that_ supposed to mean? What color are my friggen eyes? This one’s red isn’t it?”

 

From how sans put down that remark, Brainz was actually starting to ask not out of assurance but inherited unsureness, for all he knew, his eyes could’ve turned purple down here.

 

“the other one’s green now, so you're good."

 

“Now?? Wait, wait wait!-”

His arms gestured like a referee begging a timeout.

 

“-What colour _was_ my eye??  
_This_ one, the one that _actually works?”_

 

“don’t worry about it jumpy, i think you were just seeing red for a bit, but you gotta calm down-”

 

Brainz squeaked anxiously.

 

“- you’re fine, bud.

oh yeah, i almost forgot to ask you, did you get to that note i sent to ya yet?”

 

All nervous tension about a development to clinical heterochromia was gone, back to just raising a brow and the end of his sentence like this?

 

“Note? What note?”

 

“you sure you didn’t get it? i asked Pappy to give it to ya, i woulda done it myself, but i just couldn’t pull myself away from my busy work.”

 

_What…_

“What…”

 

Still collected, Brainz reached for the thing he fought so hard for from his back pocket. He held it up with his face affixed back into a dead stare to Sans.

“This.”

He held it right up, it was still damp from falling onto the snow.

 

“yeah, that’s the one, i was worried you and Pappy wouldn’t get to meet.”

 

Brainz began to feel his heart pounding through his head and his hands clenching up along with this teeth, a tantrum was a probability now.

“You….

You _wanted_ me to meet with….”

He practically loosened up a patch of mucous in his through exaggerating the easiest word for reference.

“- **_HIM?_ **.”

 

“mm-hmm, he’s actually a pretty cool guy once you look past that **hunting humans** side of him…”

 

Sans leant back some more, looking just at the firearm on the counter enough not to see another meltdown in the making on the human’s quite colorful face. Yellow teeth; silver fang, multicolored eyes all on a flush, blushing face teeming with perspiration.

 

“- yeah, i wanted to let him get his spirits up, i figured you wouldn’t mind and… well take a look at the note and you’ll get it.”

 

An excessively gripped and now unfolded piece of paper clarified something that could’ve saved some aggravation and attempted murder. Firstly that this was not the same yellow parchment from the initial appraisal with Papyrus as a stolen possession from Brainz, this was something completely new: given to Brainz as a means to cause a fit for the sake of a sick fetish in the making.

 

It read

“hey bro, me and the human are heading to Grillby’s on my break, don’t worry about puzzles, i got them covered. i'll send him your way by our place and then you can let him read this so he knows. i’d do it myself but i can’t tear myself away from my busy job.

-your bro sans-”

 

**_(._..)**

 

 

 

“ _You…_

**_You…._ **

_**YOU-”** _

 

He had knelt down because the trembling coming from inside him loosened his footing, the note was promptly destroyed, reduced to damp slivers of confetti littered on the ground. Brainz continued to ramp up.

 

“ **_You, arrogant…. Conceited.... Spooky, Shit grin eating, Noseless, slipper wearing Two Timing,  TWO FACED, TWO FEET TALL, BACKSTABBING, CONNIVING:_ **

 

**_SON OF A MOTHERFUCKING BITCH!!!”_ **

 

He roared.

 

Brainz launched to and off his feet, right over the counter, right into the booth, yelling a torrent of indistinct words similar to the dirtiest of profanity recognized by the English language.

The whirlwind of fury lasted for a grand total of 3 seconds because the throat he would go for was gone, Sans was gone before Brainz even got up to kill him in the first place. A good frantic search for him while sputtering and drooling came up inconclusive.

 

And as for the bystander from before, this display wasn’t as funny as it initially was, because it also booked it, abandoning it’s post by pretty blue flower.

 

Seeing that he was alone, Brainz treated himself to the loudest extremities of bad language his tobacco damaged lungs could force out.

He jumped hysterically, stomping his feet into the ground as hard as he could assisted by gravity: pretending to have the luxury of curb stomping either of the skeletons beneath him.

 

 

 

“- **_CUNT CUNT CUNT CUNT… CUNT_ **

**_FUCKING…. SHIT!!!!!”_ **

 

That was all...  Brainz promptly leaned himself in front of the empty guard booth for a long breather, despite panting through a burning throat: he snatched his second cigarette of the day and managed to light it when his hands wouldn’t shake so much.

 

He sucked on it between scattered pants and quivers.

 

His steam slowly diminished, and before he went for a 3rd cigarette: he suppressed a small snivel from coming out. 

 

“Why… don't you… just give me cancer…. And kill me…. Already?"

_I just wanna go home..._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Hey there-
> 
> For anyone who actually cares (if any) I am deeply sorry for the very long wait for this chapter,  
> I will not delve into the matter of the issue, but I promise that I am back on track and should be releasing each consecutive chapter within 4 weeks of each other.
> 
> -Thank you for your time.  
> Andrew G.


	5. Unburied Abberation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It just doesn't make any sense...
> 
> What should've happened,  
> What actually happened... 
> 
> They don't line up,
> 
> No reason can be formed from this,  
> No matter how hard you search,  
> How much caffeine you ingest  
> How much you tremble in frustration  
> How long you sit and rot in that office....
> 
> No, you'll never get your answer... your man.  
> Not here of course, 
> 
> There.

The current date is: March : 15 : 1:39 AM :

Currently logged in: L. Mordegrid:

 

**> >[Felons]**

**> >[Class A]**

[Class B]

[Class C]

[Class D]

[Class E]

 

**> >[ACTIVE]**

[APPREHENDED]

[DECEASED]

[INACTIVE]

(...)

001 [Sherni Genereese] (TYPE II)

001b [Mary Genereese] (TYPE II)

002 [“Ragehound”] (TYPE I)

(...)

 

014 [ Madoc Sirvoorm] (TYPE IV)

015 [Vaughone Dileetz] (TYPE II)

**> >016 [Suspect Delta Omega] (TYPE I)**

 

FULL NAME: [unknown] 

 

> COMMON ALIAS: [Brainz]

Age: [unknown]

STATUS: [unknown]

[DESCRIPTION: {Last updated 2/27/201X}]

 

TRANSGRESSIONS:

  * Terrorism
  * Bomb making
  * Conspire to assassinate a government officer.
  * Murder [List]
  * Weapons trafficking



-[ More…]

>> **[INCIDENT REPORTS]**

**> >[3/14/201X]**

  * [2/17/201X]
  * [2/2/201X]
  * [12/29/201X]
  * [9/11/201X]



[more]

  
  


INCIDENT 03141Xb

***ONGOING***

Time: 1:17 AM March 14th 201X - (Present)

Affected area(s): Ebott County / Ebott County Wilderness / Mount Ebott /

  * Suspect Omega was identified at a toll station on Interstate E-95 Exit 201 proximal to the 12th gate entering the Ebott County wilderness.
    * Upon being spotted, Suspect Omega fled: ramming his vehicle,



_(See description for vehicle make a serial)_ Through the gate, causing damage to the checkpoint: driving into the national park.

      * First response was called in from Unit 1114 from the county’s local sheriff’s department at Aprox: 1:29 AM:
        * Use of the Emergency Alert System was authorized by the state governor and the United States Dept of Homeland Security.



 

  * Suspect Omega’s vehicle was found abandoned in a ditch parallel to the road leading into the Ebott Valley Village [Pop 612]
    * Vehicle was not searched, under suspicion of a repeated tactic from Suspect Omega: The vehicle was rigged with an IED set to detonate on a fixed timer



. The devices detonated before the bomb squad could arrive to defuse it, no officers were injured in the explosion. The explosion caused a small fire on the road that was quickly extinguished by officers.

      * All evidence, if any was destroyed from the blast.



 

    * Suspect Omega continued to flee on foot, bound for the village .7 Miles eastbound from the vehicle’s location.
      * Suspect Omega was seen to have been carrying a black duffel bag retrieved from the vehicle before abandoning it, in compliance with consistent descriptions supplied by witnesses and survivors to previous attacks, Suspect Omega is _allegedly_ in possession of these weapons;
        * MAC-10 45. Caliber Automatic Machine Pistol
        * Colt Commander 45. Caliber handgun.
        * Stevens Model 77E 12 Gauge Pump Action Shotgun
          * *Some form of throwable explosive devices, improvised charge or hand grenade* (Testimony supplied by [Ronland Genn]  [See Incident 050516]*



 

  * __Speculations suggest MK-2 / M-67 Fragmentation grenades in conjunction with previous strikes__



 

      * Unidentified blunt instrument.
    * At this time, helicopter support arrived to the area in conjunction with the tactical response team.



 

  * Suspect Omega was spotted by helicopter behind a residence en route for the brush leading to Mount Ebott.



 

  * K-9 units were deployed to assist in apprehending Suspect Omega under orders to capture him ***ALIVE*(See Addendum 1)***
    * Suspect Omega scaled the southwest face of Mount Ebott onto the first shelf above treeline and released a homemade red smoke screen grenade to cover his appearance from helicopters.



 

  * Confirmed by the handling units, K-9 Officer, :Douggard: reached suspect Omega by his left arm
    * Suspect omega assaulted the canine with a blunt instrument (thought to be a lead pipe or wrench from description) and freed himself by incapacitating the unit
      * (See Casualty report)



 

  * At this time, ground units reached the shelf and continued pursuit on foot,
    * Suspect omega opened fire on the officers and in the retaliation was allegedly struck by a bullet in the leg, as Omega was seen stumbling further down the path (See Images: Blood drops on path: )



 

  * Despite being wounded and allegedly exhausted, Suspect Omega outpaced the officers and receded into a small opening into the mountain rock.
    * The opening gave into a **SMALL** chamber with **_NO ADDITIONAL EXITS_** with the exception of the entrance from the mountain side.
    * The only feature inside this small space was a vibrant patch of bright yellow flowers bedded in the middle of the room, somehow thriving without light or water.
    * Suspect Omega was last seen collapsing into center of the room, into the flowers after sustaining additional gunshots, no point of escape was identified but **Suspect Omega was never seen after this moment,** and ultimately escaped apprehension.
      * “He _phased through the floor like a ghost.”_



 

  * However, even _further_ despite the circumstance of being wounded, completely surrounded and cornered by a team well over thirty police officers. Suspect Omega evaded his arrest by-
    * Overpowering the entire force
    * Using a decoy to distract the team
    * Camouflage
    * Memetic disrupting agent
    * Secret door.
    * SOME FORM OF SUBTERFUGE



 

  * *The cause to Suspect Omega’s disappearance is inconclusive due to the grossly incompetent nature of the pursuing officers due to the possibility of escape falling into seemingly impossible odds.
    * Considering the chamber itself had **_NO_** visible nor detectable means of escape, it can only be logically explained that this act is the fault of some forces of magic or the conduct of an entire policing force as a whole



 

 

  * ****Addendum 1:** For _SOME_ reason that is unbeknownst to me and the entire force, a refusal to authorize a kill on sight protocol this suspect omega is what lead to this escape. The gratuitous reprimandation on the local units claiming to have fired upon Omega defies the basics of morality.**



 

With cases as anomalous and prioritized as Suspect Omega, a granted mindset of “Shoot to Kill.” is the most logical choice.

 

  * **The fact that we cannot appeal nor gain any form of **LOGICAL** explanation as to **WHY** he must be kept alive is- ｜**



 

 

* * *

  


A set of knocks reverberated through the office, postponing work on the document: the cursor blinked in anticipation to complete the sentence.

“Come in.”

 

The windowless door creaked open, a namecard engraved into brass followed along with it

  1. _Mordegrid Head of Counter Terrorism Dept._



 

A slender man sporting a black suit walked in, red tie loosened down from his shoulders.

He squinted from the harsh fluorescent light that he was greeted too, coming from a dark and vacant office space.

“Jesus Mordegrid, you must’ve just clocked twenty four hours in this room without a break, are you gonna call it a day… night? Or are you going to go for 48 buried in papers?”

 

Mordegrid didn’t acknowledge the man in the door with eye contact and instead panned though another tan folder spawned from the fort of dossiers on his desk.

“That’s the idea.”

Grimly

 

The man scoffed and persisted, “Man, you’ve been flat out torturing yourself with this stuff since you hauled yourself right out of your bed into this office yesterday! You’ve gotta rest sometime.”

 

Mordegrid continued to paw through the folder.

 

“Are you not just the _smallest_ bit tired at all?”

 

Mordegrid held up one finger to shush the concerns, he pointed it to a pile of spent energy shots and styrofoam coffee cups peeking from his wastebin.

 

The man shook his head, “Jesus man- you’re gonna put yourself into the ground if you keep this up. I _know_ it’s really anxious and high string right now-”

The man bent over to pick up one of the photos, still on the ground from the downed bulletin board.

“-But everyone’s pushing themselves right over their shifts, they’re covering more ground than ever this short and-” Brainz in the photo, stared straight through the officer: sporting a huge grin, silver fang glistening from the camera flash.

The man shuddered and released the photo to the ground.

“- _eugh…_ and even _they’re_ not pushing themselves as hard as you.”

 

Mordegrid still didn’t respond at all and continued rifling through the papers and then furiously clacking words into the computer. A hand gently pushed the folder down from his sight and onto the desk.

 

“Lunezo please…

We _do_ need you to help with this, and that means we need all of you with us, not a tired and exhausted man stressing himself out to the bone and rotting away in his office.

 _Please,_ go home and get some rest.”

 

Mordegrid grunted and fumbled the folder out of the man’s hand placing it face down angrily to add another mountain of papers to his desk to fidget with.

“I _can’t_ okay?... I just _can’t_ … I just need to find one,

**_ONE-”_ **

He even held up a finger for emphasis, for only needing one of something, it was quite a substantial one.

“- reason behind this whole mess. It just makes absolutely _NO_ sense at all! How does one god abandoned piece of shit man on his last huff of air manage to _do_ something like this?”

 

The man in front of the desk just shrugged and shook his head earnestly.

 

Mordegrid shot another finger at him.

“Exactly! He just _doesn’t!_ I’ve looked up every escape, every method, hiding, crafty man tactic… trapdoors, doppelgangers, disguises, light tricks, hallucinogenic agents, it’s all been _done_ but this?-

 _This…_ -”

 

He retreated back into his chair and sighed from frustration, caressing his forehead firmly. His exhaustion was easily noticeable from calming down.

“- this is just _unfair_ …”

 

He got a bit of a raised brow from the man.

“Unfair, sir?”

 

Mordegrid shook his head again, a touch more impatient

“Well.. yeah!

I mean… just, every time he’s gotten away: it was just because plainly and bluntly… _he was just better than us,_ like he knew what we were doing before we even did. He had some kind of plan and they usually worked just peachy for him.

I even thought this was another one of those myself, but with all the time I’ve had with the record of what went down last night… there can’t exist a possibility where he could’ve or really would desire to plan such an extraneous course of action for himself, leading an endurance of ballistic trauma!

 

This here… this was extemporaneous!   _HE_ didn’t know what he was doing, I mean ramming right through a tollbooth, losing his car and whatever was in it, and heading right up the side of a mountain in the middle of scenic nowhere… all on foot, acknowledging five helicopters on his ass?

It happened on OUR terms and for once _HE_ wasn’t ready for it.”

 

He clenched his fists for a bit but released the tension again with a sigh, he moistened his lips, took a gaze at the computer and shook his head for a consecutive time in disappointment.

“He was desperate, I could just _feel_ it, everything from the car to his erratic movement, he couldn’t have known what was going to happen, he didn’t. But then it did happen, and not only did it happen… but it only happened for _him-”_

A duo of beeps sounded off from the observer’s wristwatch, winning a glance and a long yawn from being up at this harsh hour.

“Excuse me sir, go on?”

 

Mordegrid took slight vexation to the yawn, but couldn’t be angry to assume it was on purpose. He closed some of the folders on the desk, the first act of tidying he tried all night.

 

“- I’m just saying… it’s like whatever he saw in that room, besides the end of the line. Whatever it was… he was the only one it revealed itself to, like it _wanted him.”_

 

The guy sat in silence for a moment, expecting Mordegrid to say something shrugging this off or an admittance that his relentless toil was finally getting to him, but he was serious. So the man who had witnessed this was forced to consider this as an argument.

 

He sounded as skeptical and unbelieving as he could while still retaining the obligated respect to his boss.

“Sir? Are you telling me that…

Well please pardon me if I’ve gotten you quite wrong here,

Are you insisting that he embraced some kind of… _portal_ or something similar inside of that room? A spacial anomaly of sorts?

And one that opened exclusively for him?

Like some sort of… _aaauh… ayee…_   _Magic gateway?”_

 

Mordegrid went right for the assumption.

“You think I’m crazy.”

 

The man reeled back right away.

“No no no! Not at all sir, but is that what you are trying to imply?”

 

Mordegrid groaned and felt his nose bridge.

“I don’t _want_ to actually say that and mean it, but with a lack of  some fancy smoke or funny mirrors, I really can’t think of any other way to explain it. _Nothing_ even comes close to even hinting that it could be rational let alone logical.”

“Than _magic…”_

He was much more skeptical now, making sure to exaggerate how absurd the concept was just with his pronunciation.

“Yeah… magic, sorcery, some foul play beyond our understanding… pretty _illogical,_ I know. But I’m not going to use the terminology as the culprit behind this, nooo no no no. Instead it’s going to be our placeholder, and if a breakthrough can finally be made, then it will be discarded.

But if not, then it’s magic-”

The officer nodded, not necessarily agreeing with such a circumstance being probable, but more so to appease his boss.

Mordegrid cleared some of the paper debris from his desk, sending an avalanche of crumbled balls to the floor.

“And besides, if we have to call _*magic*_ it wouldn’t be so unfitting, not in _this_ of all places.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Mordegrid tapped assertively on the newly revealed map of the county lying on his desk, a corner browned from the coffee stain left uncleaned.

“Here.”

 

The officer rolled his eyes, “What, the Mountain? Mount Erbert?”

 

Mordegrid exaggerated the spelling, _,_ “ Ebott E-B-O-T-T _Ebott.”_

 

A bland apology, not very sincere “Sor-ree.”

 

“But yes… this place has history, _anomalous_ history… it took a lot of access and it was like the most unruly knot of cases and incidents yet… but I found something disturbing, and I’m sincere when I say _I_ found it-”  
He shot a thumb at his chest, quite proud yet agitated.

“- because there is nothing remarking on this mountain and its past.”

 

Again, the other man in the room relayed the question for further analysis, but it was intrigued and touched by anxiety.

“What… do you mean?’

 

Mordegrid removed a sheet from the veil made of papers off of his computer monitor.

“Read this.”

 

He did after he cleared his throat.

“Ok,

_‘SEARCH COMES TO A CLOSE, LEAVING HEARTBROKEN FAMILY WITHOUT CHILD.’_

_The 60th day of the statewide effort to find a young girl who went missing on the eighteenth officially closed after two months of fruitless searching. Police were baffled by the disappearance when the family went on a hiking expedition and noticed the child was missing after returning to their car.”’_

 

Mordegrid then stood up and pointed to a lone line on the article.

“Read that.”

_“June 12th 1999, Ebott Country.’_

Ok? A foolish kid strayed too far from her inherently irresponsible parents who didn’t check until it was too late, that happens all the time… and while I feel awful about it, I mean I really would: I can’t even fathom what I’d do if that happened to my son…

I don’t see how it matches up here.”

 

He was urged to accept another photocopied paper.

“Read this one now.”

The officer did, but almost more reluctant this time.

 

“ _MISSING PERSONS REPORT DECEMBER 2003_

  * Susian Eniyae (Age 16) 12/12 4:30 PM
    * LAST SEEN: Walking home from North Horksfold Public school
  * Jacob N. Sawsheurn (Age 72) 12/1 5:30 AM
    * LAST SEEN: In condo located at Quiet Valley elderly condominiums complex.
  * Hershuun Kalablitey (Age 19) 12/24 12:00 AM
    * LAST SEEN: Driving home from a holiday party, allegedly under the influence of alcohol.”



 

“Ok? Sir what does this-”

He was shushed, and directed towards the middle of the downsized poster copy.

“Right here, the name’s not important but what does _that_ say.”

 

“- LAST SEEN: Walking through Ebott Wilderness, Bicycle was found abandoned on bikerack in parking lot of park.”

 

He looked up from the paper, unsettled, but still retaining skepticality.

 

Mordegrid held the last of the group of clippings and papers from his computer top.

 

“I have more… there have been a total of _FOUR_ unexplained, cold disappearances on this mountain from 1998 to today. All of them are similar in that they share these traits.

 

  * There was never a trace of them found, not a scrap of clothing, bit of dirt kicked up, a body even. Nothing
  * The police were never able to find the cause behind the disappearances, no sick bastard living like a savage or wild animal hunting for food.
  * The motives that these person ran away were nonsensical…  it’s not like they ran away.
  * And lastly… the most disturbing piece of this… the piece that doesn’t quite fit…



You want to know?”

 

He had taken the majority of skepticality out of the man, the officer looked at all the articles and moved his lips from instinct without audible words.

_What the… hell?_

He looked at Mordegrid for an answer to these coincidences, by giving him an answer.

“Uhm… I think? What is it?”

 

Mordegrid scoffed unironically and nodded.

“Okay, the thing that screws this up is, they were all kids.”

 

The man almost dropped the collection of documents.

“What?”

 

“Yeah… all four of them were children, all minors. None older than 17 years old, and some still in the single digits.

Like it only wanted _children.”_

 

The documents were given back to the head, the man brought back some skepticality.

“Okay… that’s pretty bizarre, I’ll give you that but, but cmon- Omega is _obviously_ not a child… I mean he was obviously not a child when he hit the radar in 2006… hell, he’s gotta be at _least_ in his 40’s, maybe even touching 50 years old.

Hell, there’s your anomaly right there, how the hell does this guy get away so much, on foot no less? There’s no way in hell he’s healthy enough to manage that, seeing the cigarette _cartons_ mind you, that he leaves behind wherever he goes, I think he sucks down half a dozen packs alone each week-”

 

He was digressing too much for Mordegrid, but too invested into his speculation to notice the unamused face he was getting.

 

“- _maaan,_ now that I think about it: Last night he ran almost a whole mile in a full sprint carrying all that weight on him, not to mention vaulting over a dozen picket fences, or doing that up a steep hill, all this and he didn’t stop once.

Phew!

Son of a bitch must’ve been _determined as hell_ to get away. Wherever he is, he’s _gotta_ be feeling the aftermath of that, ouch.”

Mordegrid cocked his head to the side, squinting his cerulean eyes above a terrible amount of dark circles.

 

“Are you seriously pitying this piece of shit?”

The man reeled himself in quickly,

“No no no! Of course not sir!

I was only saying how for someone like him, all that running can’t be good for him. He probably single handedly bought Joe Camel that tuxedo and those raybans… probably even the Ferrari too.”

Then he smirked a bit, something amusing came to him.

 

“Do you remember when we found that shithole motel he was living in a couple months back? The one where they had saran wrap on one of the damn broken windows? His room smelled like a Jazz Club, and that _ash tray._ I think if we were just a week later, it woulda reached the ceiling! Like damn!

How does this guy not have every form of cancer possible? In fact, how do we know he didn’t give himself a new type of cancer?”

 

The guy snickered at the absurdity, the way he looked at Mordegrid: he would’ve expected a smile at the very least, but No. Mordegrid instead squinted his seriously circled and tired eyes and focused them right on him.

 

“Are you making a joke out of this?

This piece of fucking evil worshipping garbage has killed over one hundred _innocent_ people and you’re laughing like he’s some smelly dope in some children’s cartoon?

Are you serious right now?”

 

In a single sentence, he code switched his sense of leashed abrasiveness for his true disposition. He began to advance on the man slowly as he went on.

 

“- I don’t care if he sucks on Joe Camel’s furry Genitalia! The fact that this fucker hasn’t dropped dead from lung cancer or _something_ slow and painful is a goddamned insult to me, and you making a joke about it is salt in huge pus dripping wound that’s been festering for as long as he steals the same oxygen we breathe.

You don’t seem to understand, I don’t want him just dead… I want him to _hurt_ I want him to fall into some ring of hell, I want every nightmare ever conceived by the darkest recesses of what miniscule conscience he has, the monsters that tortured him beneath his bed, the creatures who lurked in his closet. Only, I don’t want him to wake up

_EVER.”_

 

The office fell silent to all but the fluorescent lighting, through the body language and mutual lack of conversation between men, they approached the consensus that this subject of conversation was over.

“Now… if you’d be so kind, I’d like to actually _finish_ my work before I leave in the morning.”

 

He was humbled by the retaliation of an offended man, so as the man finally decided to leave Mordegrid to his work, he felt a compulsion to inquire for one final thing, he had to be sure.”

 

“Where are you going, sir? Do you mean you’ll be going home?”

 

Mordegrid switched on the coffee maker on a table adjacent to his desk and cracked open another can of concentrated caffeine.

“No… Mount Ebott.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is something new that I wish to try with this story
> 
> Where as every solid chapter follows the wrong man in the wrong place.
> 
> These "b" chapters sought to give an insight on what lies above, what didn't just *stop* when Brainz fell underground.  
> What he left behind.


	6. Undoubtable Phantasm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Look at yourself, still trying to make sense out of everything,  
> When all is done, take a look at those theories of yours, how they bend and twist reality to conform to your standards.  
> That doesn't make any sense, does it?  
> Seems just as illogical if not more, than what It actually looks like now doesn't it?
> 
> When you've spent a good handful of minutes creating your exaggerated conclusions, ask yourself.  
> "Don't you have anything better to do?"

“Okay… Crybaby time is over.”

Three cigarettes lay spent on the ground in front of him, the pack was already down a row.  Brainz ran a shake throughout himself and got back up. Despite the still fresh wound of an open betrayal from Sans and the fresh bout of  bodily soreness from his brother…  Brainz finally managed to conjure the composure he needed _not_ to yell and scream any further.

It was back to normality, _his_ normality of course: holding conversations with himself and staving off desperate paranoia and now: building vicodin withdrawal. He could feel it, everything was starting to ache again, in honesty, his normal array of pains and soreness started back at the large door to the snow world, but only now because of the new pains in his stomach, shoulder, and back: did they really hit his attention. It was staring to _hurt._

His last fix of the green opioids was far _far_ passed six hours ago. He’d taken down just shy of a double a day’s dosage before the troubles began. He went two times over the limit to cold turkey within a day, he was in for a bad time.

Brainz would try to keep it from mind for now: the building, passive physical misery. At least while it was still possible, however long that would last. He could feel the goosebumps starting to form, at least he had a sweater.

 

“Welp… guess I’m gonna go… _this_ way, no choice, and no reprieve: I’m already in hell and that’s certain, so really can’t get any worse.”

 

Seeing that he was talking to himself again, he took the opportunity to recall the sage advice he had given himself  minutes ago. When he grabbed his lifeline off of the counter.

“Oh yes, I almost forgot! And for something I’m _never_ going to forget to do now…”

 

He reached for his cluttered inventory and began rescuing fresh shotgun cartridges one by one.

“ You know… I think I’ve _finally_ had it with this place-”

 **_-SHCK!-_ ** The first shell entered the weapon.

 

“- I’ve had it with this goddamned weather-”

- **_SHCK!-_ ** Number two.

 

“-I’ve had it with these, _things_ that make no sense, all of them-”

 **-** **_SHCK!-_ ** The gun was at 60% capacity.

 

“-I’ve had it with this cryptic _magic_ bullshit-”

 **_-SHCK!-_ ** One more to go.

 

“- and finally… most of all, I think I’ve had enough of this _Houdini Motherfucker.”_

 **_-SHICK! KA-CHNK!-_ ** The shotgun evicted the empty shell onto the snow: giving a primed shell residence in the chamber now.

“Ah, that’s better…

Him and his brother… _Motherfuckers….”_

He wasn’t quite done yet, because Sans had pushed his standards for desiring killing power above carrying a loaded shotgun, He needed more to assure of his survival now. Advanced paranoia yielded advanced defense.  
He fumbled through some more, he wouldn’t get to retrieve any of the two firearms that used the majority of the ammunition he had, those were gone for good: he had a bag of 45. ACP rounds and magazines but not a bag of ammo in that regard.

Well… with one exception.

The pocket with his guide to the underground was opened once more, but he’d hold off on learning for this time, he wanted something else. The tiny, unused flare projector with a sole purpose, but never any experience.

_FP-45: The Liberator, Manual Loaded handgun. No feed system, no shell ejection, it’s all done by hand, when all and all is done: You only get one shot._

 

“And I only need One.”

He shook it to hear the distinctive rattle of lead tipped brass inside the grip, felt satisfied by the noise and gave it a new home in his pocket. He was just about to close up again and head back to hell, but noticed the second auxiliary pocket to his bag.

“Oh shit, what did I put in there, _did_ I put something in there?”

 

He did alright, he had some _serious_ somethings in there.

“Holy shit, how did I forget about _these?!”_

 

A plastic bag lay in solitude here, ‘HAVE A NICE DAY!’ was inscribed to the side of the bag, quite ironic given what was inside.

“Explosives….

I brought explosives with me…”

A shopping bag full of assorted bombs and similar things that went **_-BOOM!-_ ** Pipe bombs held together by duct tape, smoke charges, and a bunch of metallic spheres, branded as government property. Not quite anything large enough to level buildings or destroy city blocks, but still a good variety to remove fingers, arms, and people.

_Or Freaks._

 

“Hoo… well shit… good to know I have _these,_ I’m not sure I’m to the point I need to carry a fucking grenade in my pocket _just_ yet. Lemme remember to check in ten minutes. Besides, that’s not gonna fit into jean pockets, hell no.”

The pouch was closed up, and the main pocket would follow too, but not before a black rubber handle was fished out. Brainz squeezed the trigger on the thing and it stuck out its serrated metal tongue.

“That’ll do.”

The switchblade was closed up and sent into his back pocket, the last of items on demand.

Actually, one more thing retrieved, a handful actually. Brainz shoved a small group of shotgun shells into his pants pockets, just a precaution for _when_ he’d need more, not if. And as a new addendum, the next time he would fire his gun: regardless of what it was at. He was going to shoot to kill. He had limited ammunition and gauging his future, Brainz really couldn’t afford warning shots: not that they did anything anyhow.

 

And back to the path he went finally. He had completely changed venues, no longer in an impossible winter forest, chills reminding you of the failure of reality. But not to worry!

Brainz looked to the much lower ceiling of this new space to see stars basking the room in their glow, the only reason he could see in front of him.

 

“Well that’s impossible… looks like I’m going the right way!

And oh look! Another box in the middle of nowhere with... -”

 

_This is a box, you can put an item in or take an item out. Why would you though??? You can’t use items when they’re in the box._

_-Sincerely, A box Hater._

 

“- another opinionated sign confirming that it is indeed… a fucking box, wonderful.”

Still empty.

 

He sighed for what must’ve been the tenth time so far out of the lack of hope had for himself.

“God, just- _fuck_ this place, fuck it so hard..”

 

A loud splash from ahead distracted him from the useless box, Brainz could confirm the noise, a large stream of water flowed from aloft while rocks were sporadically carried through the stream.

The oddity did little for impressing him, but he changed his mind with a loud gasp, Brainz looked up at the source of the water, the ceiling gave way and went,

UP.

“Wait!

This actually goes somewhere?

No way, no way, no way in hell… no.”

 

He didn’t believe himself there, Brainz waded through the stream to approach the falls, but the constant flow of identical shaped rocks forced him to land on the other side. He grunted under his breath, still trying to peek above the tip of the falls.

 

“fuck... I dunno, could I get out this way? They gotta come from somewhere, right?

(...)  
Wait a minute…”

 

He watched some more of the large stones fall down and leave his sight, they were all perfectly identical as if they’d be manufactured. A similar form of perfect repetition as the ice cubes a ways back.

And the realization or speculation of that made him sigh, the bit of hope he had deflated from him.

“Awwwwhhh… I shoulda figured, probably another asshole up there throwing rocks, makes as much sense as everything else down here. I can’t even see daylight, so If I tried to climb this, I’d be just as lost as I am now, and I’d get all wet for no reason, this stuff is ice cold too.”

 

(Rock-Wolf???) got no respect, and Brainz carried on while now practically swimming in his boots.

 

“Throwing blocks of ice into water for a living, I don’t even know how that’s remotely useful! What possible use could there be for some fool throwing huge cubes of ice being built from a machine! And there’s a machine! If these freaks have a machine to automatically build ice why don’t they-”  


His rant died off when he forgot where he was going or was, he found himself standing in an oddly placed patch of grass, it went all the way up to his waist. Jungle grass.

 

“-and this here is another thing! What is with this fucking place?! Why is there-”

 

He abruptly stopped, something hit his ear drums other than the sound of his own complaints. It sounded like footsteps, and they were coming from _behind_ him.

Now grateful for this out of place grass, Brainz went down onto his back and shrank into the green, completely out of sight. He could feel the footsteps against the ground as they approached, they sounded like they belonged to someone quite large wearing boots made of metal.

 

 _That_ didn’t help him calm his breathing, it only made it harder to stifle his breaths without suffocating. His pulse drummed in his head, and the sound of it growing in tempo led him to more hastened breaths getting less and less air.

_Shhh.. nice and calm, slow down… just hold still and breathe._

 

They were right there… the footsteps, they clacked together, metal plates shifting over each other, they stopped right before the grass. Brainz counted them as they planted themselves.

_One… and two._

 

And then there was nothing… absolute stillness, no more footsteps or symphonies from metallic instruments would accompany the raging pulse in his ears. His head was mere inches away from the location of the sound, quite like nothing but inside, it begged frantically.

_“Go away… Go away… Go, Away.  Turn around… and walk away. Don’t come in here, Don’t come in here…  Just fucking walk away goddamn you. Walk Away.”_

The percussion started again, but it pushed Brainz further into the terror, they stepped right into the grass.

**_-klunk!-_ **

**_-ka-lunk!-_ **

 

_“Goddammit!_

_Ohh Fuck you!”_

 

The metallic feet put themselves right around Brainz’s head, one of them snagged on his ragged hair, a scrunched face and perhaps a tear was what had to prevent him from downright whining from the pain of it.

Centimeters from demise now, Brainz could look straight up at the source standing atop of him.

‘ _Oh my god…’_

 

The metal wasn’t limited to the boots adjacent to his clammy face, the whole figure appeared to be clad in a suit of  metal armor, a huge suit of armor at that, a dreadfully bright cerulean spear was clutched in one of its gauntlets.

Even from his perspective, he could see that the thing had to have had at _least_ seven or eight feet to it, it was huge.

 

“ _Jesus christ… oh Jesus Christ, I’m so fucked!”_

The frightened whisper in his head was so prominent, his lips moved, no sound came out of course, he couldn’t make any noise, too petrified to do so.

The figure continued to remain where it stood, as if waiting for something.

_Or Looking for SomeONE…_

Only one other thought joined the frantic please still continuing,

_Papyrus?_

 

It couldn’t be, it was much too quiet to be the same figure he shot back there, the only noise it made inside the armor was the deep rhythm of breathing echoed inside a metal helmet. Impossible for a thing without lungs…. If _impossible_ still meant anything.

 

_“GO AWAY! GO AWAY! PLEASE, GO THE FUCK AWAY!_

_You motherfucker, you fucking go away NOW.”_

 

Suddenly, the noise resumed! Brainz felt the metal boot release his hair from the ground as they moved with the shifting of the armor. But before it would depart without noticing him, a good gathering of dirt and microscopic gravel chunks would be thrown right from the boot and into his eye.

The only eye that he could _see_ out of, that is. Well… not anymore now.

  


As much as he’d desire to keep that fact hidden from enemies to exploit his disability, it was all too true. Brainz was completely blind in his red eye. The only use he got out of it was using it’s deformed appearance to scare people by simply staring at them. So adopting a sense of paranoia over his functioning eye was a smart idea, lest he completely lose his sight.

He clenched his eyelids shut as tightly as he could manage and resisted with all of his might not to frantically rub the contaminants that irritated his fragile organ to a near unbearable agony. It teared up from the invasion of dirt.

He had to hold his urge to grunt and writhe from the unbearable sensation.

 

The massive figure proceeded further into the grass, Brainz couldn’t see where the feet were going in relation to him, he just sat still in misery as the steps proceeded away.

 

Step by step, they shrank in volume and grew in distance away from him, but even when he could no longer hear the metal plates hitting each other or the echos coursing through the passage. Brainz still wouldn’t move, there was relief on him. But he was still wracked and set immobile by paranoia: exhaustion too.

 

_You’ve seen this before, you know for certain that it’s still watching. You’re not going to fall for that, not at all._

 

(...)

Still quiet.

 

(...)

 

He just lay there, bathing in fear and sweat, he was too focused on sitting still, not a cell permitted to move. Not even his eyelid to flush out the harmful particles, it was irrelevant how marginal of a sound it would make: nothing was allowed to move. He was down here for so long already, That he failed to grasp the time that had elapsed.

 

Seconds? Mere Minutes? Could It have been an hour that he existed like this, completely in the dark, almost helpless?  Could time exist in a warped twisted state under these cavern ceilings? What if it was months? Years even? Maybe time really didn’t matter, when you possibly stopped existing: why bother keeping track?

 

_It’s probably gone now, you should probably get up._

 

He didn’t, he wasn’t sure enough of himself yet. That titan wearing a full suit of armor, it looked intimidating as _hell,_ Brainz felt the grainy stock from the shotgun lying with him, it gave him just the slightest feeling of comfort: Even if he wasn’t terribly sure  sure that it would be enough stopping power to take it down. After all, an unarmored skeleton was able to shrug it off like a gust of wind had knocked it down.

_You *Really* should get up and fix your eye now, or else you’ll be completely fucked._

Sitting here forever wasn’t going to work, and he knew this all too well. He _had_ to make a decision on what he’d do, a fallback in case his worst fears were realized. A contingency if even the worst wasn’t as bad as what could be waiting for him, hungry for blood as his head emerged from the grass. The reason persisted in his head, becoming more agitated.

_If you sit here for goddamned ever, something else is gonna come through here and you won't see it coming because you won't unblind yourself. Now for Fuck’s sake: GET UP._

 

Yelling to make him get up, this wasn’t a new thing: and because of that: it wasn’t really an effective thing either. Brainz didn’t obey him, because he was too occupied obeying himself. He’d have to eventually agree with it, but first he just needed to lay there for _five_ more minutes… just five more, then he’d move.

“ _Five… minutes….”_

The voice faded away, along with everything else.

_(...)_

  


“Are you dead yo?”

Brainz’s eyes shot open real wide. A blurred, deformed face stared right into him with eyes ever wider than his.

_“Baaaugh!”_

 

He leapt, right up out of the grass, completely startled out of his wits only to fall over to the ground, still almost as a bat. He finally and furiously rubbed away at his eye, reddening the skin around it until he reestablished a marginally improved line of sight, still blurred and distorted but less so.

He was so groggy and discoordinated. He sat up hyperventilating and it only worsened when he felt that his other hand was empty.

He’d left the shotgun in the grass with whatever was about to jump out at him.

 

Pushed by instinct, as the grass rustled and danced towards him, He fumbled for the switchblade in his back pocket, frantic to strike or just to run away madly. Tears clouded the narrow bit of eyesight he had, the figure began to emerge.

 

But he wouldn’t get the weapon out of his pocket because his rash developing eye still managed to realize that this was a much less terrifying sight, a familiar yellow figured had scurried out from the bush. The armless child!

A huge sigh of relief came out, Brainz held onto his chest to keep his heart from exploding out of his chest. Cold sweat slid off of him like ice.

 

“ _Oh my-_ Jesus fu-

I mean, Oh geez-”

 

Brainz continued to rub his still greatly irritated eye (albeit with less vigor)  and held his other hand to his aching head. He pushed a bit of a chuckle out now, anything to drain out the terror. Breathing started to slow down.

 

“- You scared me out of my gourd!

Oh ho ho man…”

 

The child looked down and sheepishly nudged its feet on the ground.

“Oh, sorry yo.”

 

Brainz got up to his still wobbling legs, partly asleep.

“Oh no, it’s OK, it’s OK, don’t worry about it, heh-”

_No it’s not… your heart almost stopped and you were completely blind for a bit, you’re pretty far from it._

 

Inner voice gave pessimism and his body followed, he stumbled a bit from the cramp in his abdomen, but recovered.

“- I was lying there for so long, I guess I must’ve passed out a bit by accident, so don’t worry about it, you actually did me a favor there.”

 

Brainz forced himself to put up a reassuring smile for the kid, they perked up again, almost as jumpy as Brainz.

“Oh wow, so I helped out??”

 

He repeated his gratitude and nodded calmly.

“Yeah, thanks.”

His company smiled too, but with much more energy and genuity.

“Ah cool yo! You’re welcome and I-

Wait a sec-”

 

They squinted at him, being perceived as skepticism and raw assumption, Brainz didn’t care for that look much

“- Oh, It's you!-”

 

_Uhoh_

Scenarios of worst cases and options sprinted into mind, he was primed to make his own assumptions on what that meant. He readied himself to act in the face of an accusation from the child.

“- from Snowdin! Heya, what’s up? I thought you said you were in a rush to the capitol or something.”

 

He deflated again, relieved.

“Ooohh…  

Um, I was um,

Uh.”

 

He drew up blanks, choking on the spot. One of the most inexperienced and costly mistakes someone of his nature could do. Fortunate for him, it seemed his still “friend” knew what Brainz was doing, for him. It put on a smug face and nodded slowly.

“ _Oooooh,_ I see what you were doing, oh yeah.”

 

His heart lurched.

“You did?”

 

“Oh yeah I did, don’t worry, I won’t judge you. You were waiting for her to come too then, weren’t you?”

 

It didn’t wait for a response, but for this one time, Brainz was glad he’d get interrupted because he’d only give some bewildered noise vaguely resembling a question, like “Uhm, What?”

 

“It’s all cool yo, I getcha. She _is_ pretty cool. I think I saw her come through this way too, she usually goes this way when she’s after someone. Did you see her then?”

 

Brainz in obligation and gave an “uh-huh?” for agreement, but that was just a cover to maintain his own. He really didn’t know he was answering a question let alone just making feeble noises.

_Her?_

The child continued, shaking with excitement, practically shoving words together with no gaps in between.

 

“Oh dude! Maybe she’s after the bad guy! You know about that right? Like I heard there was a bad guy down here! And like they attacked a guard or something I think!  Maybe it was  human! It _had_ to be a human, cuz they attack for no reason and stuff! What if they went _this_ way? What if we run into them?! Then Undyne can come and beat them up and we can watch-”

The kid was so invested in themselves that they didn’t see the exaggerated frown underneath morbidly anxious eyes, branded onto Brainz’s face.

 

“- Du du du-du-dude! We _gotta_ check it out!-”

Then they gasped to the limit of their little body.

“- _Duuuuuude!_ Wait wait wait! What if we like catch them and bring them to Undyne!

 _Ooooh man!_ That would be _TOTALLY WICKED!!!”_

 

If this were a morning cartoon, Brainz’s mouth would fall off from frowning so strongly, he’d fall over like a statue too.

“Uuuuhhhhhh _hhhhhhh-”_

His contribution to the conversation was heavily glazed over.

 

“ _Yeah!_ Let's go, cmon! She’d be _so_ proud of us! We’d be like helping her and Mr Dreemurr too! Super sweet!

It began to skip away, vanishing into the path ahead, Brainz put his brief abject terror aside for just a moment to call out.

 

“Kid!

Wait a sec-Hold on a minute!

_Wait!”_

 

It didn’t and Brainz could only hear the echo lagging behind it.

“ _Cmon!”_

 

The child was gone.

“Dammit!”

At least the return to quiet had its always complimentary moment for introspection. He pondered on the unexpected and juvenile update to his situation, his typical abasement, inevitable from being down here for a prolonged time.

 

His actions were all but completely noticed, and they were received just a much as hostility as he feared they would, maybe even more. The child was obviously referring to the monstrous suit of armor pursuing him, and from the elation it was told to him: it’d be one hell of a spectacle if it… _she_ got her metal gauntlets on him.

_It’s called Undyne…_

 

And Unlike Papyrus, it seemed that this beast was some kind of celebrity down here, so really it seemed his already negative attention could only evolve into straight up infamy, lucky him, his ‘friend’ and Undyne were all going the same way he had to go:how convenient! This was likely inevitable.

 

Brainz picked up the unnoticed weapon from its resting place in the grass and groaned meekly, ending it meekly.

“I don’t have enough ammo-ooo… this is _baaad… bad bad bad._

Awwww _oooooh_ nnoo….”

 

Maybe he’d need to carry a grenade in his pocket after all… it hadn’t even been ten minutes after his initial statement and his situation exponentially worsened.

 

_Well… think of the positives, and there ARE positives mind you. Now, you won't be tempted to waste your time judging whether to shoot them or not. You KNOW that they’re all after you now…_

_Well except that stupid kid, they’re still as green as they come it seems._

 

Carrying on: Brainz couldn’t feel sorry for himself and focus on escaping at the same time, so he decided to 86 the feeling sorry for himself. Discarding the bonus regrets too.

It was just another problem, into the pile with the others.

“ Oh What the hell? _Another_ waterfall?-”

He looked down the drop for this one, endless void.

 

“-And this one leads to the center of the fucking earth too?”

 

It really shouldn’t have surprised him too much by this point, but the water seemed to be moving too fast to ford it, the gap was just a hair too far for him to ensure he’d make it.

 

“ _Ghhng!_ And this is still _really_ pissing me off!”

His right eye had puffed up and turned almost as red as the other one, the fact that his hands were far from clean, really didn’t help sooth the ailing thing.

 

Brainz finished scratching, he rolled up one of his sleeves and tried to find the bottom of the stream, the water reached his shoulder before his hand could find a bottom: it was like putting your hand into a vat of liquid nitrogen, his goosebumps were at full mast now.

 

Regardless of how dreadfully cold the current was, the current itself was going way too fast, Being a poor swimmer carrying heavy equipment, fending off narcotic deficiency induced fatigue. He wasn’t crossing it.

“ And Where did that kid go? That prick with the suit? They couldn’t-a went through _this_ right? This is up to my waist by the least, I can’t swim this.”

 

Something else had caught his attention though, right near the ledge where he stood, there was a collection of ornate looking flowers. All of them closed up tight. They were huge too: the leaves suggested these things had the radius of a manhole cover if they opened up. They were arranged in such a way, a _deliberate_ way; someone put them there to be discovered.

Why? He wasn’t going to figure that out.

 

And then there was something he’d overlooked on his journey to leave, a bright sign proudly etched into the wall, it’s letters similar to neon decor.

“And what the hell is this horse crap? I can’t even…”

The ‘letters’ if that’s what they were supposed to be, resembled more of a clump of indecipherable blue trash. It was an unknown language with the text barely even legible: a double whammy of unnecessary obstacles for him.

 

“- _fucking_ beautiful… I’ve either got to jump into _frigid_ ass water and hope I can scramble across to ‘safety’ if I can even call it that.

OR turn right around to the place where I now _KNOW_ I’m a wanted criminal and they’re looking for me. Y’know, I bet this sign just says something like: ‘ _Haha, you just wasted your time, good fucking luck ASSHOLE’_ or better yet, how about just _DIE.”_

 

He pouted in frustration for a moment, then twitched violently and again assaulted his eye.

“ _Rnnngh!_ And _Then!_ This stupid bitch kicks a bunch of shit into my freaking eye, and it-”

With each verse, he applied his fist to the tear flooded part of his face to make the unbearable sensation stop.

“ _wont!_

_Stop!_

_Fucking_

_ITCHING!!_

 

 _DA-OW!”_ _  
_ That last exclamation wasn’t part of his initial tantrum, but it was more of a courtesy because he had just managed to clock himself directly in his eye on the last blow. It wasn’t itching as much as painfully throbbing.

 

_You, IDIOT._

_You just punched yourself in your only working eye._

 

Brainz barked internally at himself while dancing around erratically, with his hand covering his self inflicted injury. He paced back and forth while his stream of profanities was only comparable to the actual stream leading to the void.

 

Relating to that stream…  he cut off his rampage quite soon, catching him from throwing himself into the water by accident. He managed to see his foot right before it would depart from the solid land.

 

“Jesus Christ that was a close one! This place is bad fucking enough on me, but I’m not letting it win yet!”

 

He parked himself against the wall under the illegible sign and slid down to the ground, groaning until he hit the bottom.

“Keep it together, goddammit. You already have enough problems as it is, don’t become one. This place isn’t winning enough yet to warrant me beating myself up, not yet.”

 

He sighed, his eye still closed up, making amends with his hand: now gently massaging it.

“- _well…_  at least I’m not completely blind, the _last_ last thing I need is that.”

 

He winced a bit, his face tightened up on it’s right side.

“ Ahck, Shit, it’s all swollen, I don’t even wanna open it and…

And…”

 

Brainz paused, his facial expression defaulted to a blank look. He held out both of his hands and inspected them.

“Wait…”

 

His gaze locked onto his right appendage, following it as it slowly returned to its respective eye. It felt the swollen eyelids tightly pressed against each other, preventing sight…

 

It sounded quite nervous and apprehensive.

 

“W-wait… how am I seeing this?”

 

He laid both of his hands down again, and cycled all nine and a half of his digits, affixed to his gray hands, covered in their gray tattoos, partially concealed by his gray sleeves.

Under _any_ circumstance, this wasn’t supposed to hold any significance. But this was _his_ situation, and right now: he was counting his fingers with the eye that _didn’t_ work, that _shouldn’t_ be working right now, while he took a break in a place that _shouldn’t_ exist.

 

It was just a whisper now, timid and frightened.

“W-what the _fffuck?_

Bu bu b-but H-h-h-how?”

The subservient crimson eye darted around the room, giving him exactly what he needed to see. _Everything._

Up to his feet, legs quaking, and newly found vison challenged, with great assertion and demand for an answer, this wasn’t a rhetorical question.

 

“How,

 _HOW…_ am I doing this?! This is supposed to be REAL!”

The chimera eye blinked rapidly, only briefly glimpsing the blackness from its normal lack of function.

_Calm down! This is a good thing, you’re not blind now! You’re not…_

_You’re not blind there anymore?_

_How?_

 

The voice of his inner doppleganger even failed to comprehend it.

 

Brainz sat there in complete awe, of himself no less, it was like unveiling some surreptitious ability, hidden from his own self.

“I don’t freaking believe this… how or _why_ is this even real?

Of all the things that don’t make sense anymore, now _I’m_ not making sense!”

 

He snickered for just a moment: not genuinely, but shook his head and stopped himself

“ _Mmmn-mnnn_

Nope, nope, nope… not gonna freak out

I’m good now. I am _so_ good right now

Magically back to normal, it’s inside of me now.

I just said that I wasn’t gonna be a problem, I don’t need more. Just fucking deal with it.”

 

He kept the damaged eye closed still, periodically ensuring that it was indeed closed, and that this was indeed a full blown delusion and not a simple sensory malfunction. He had to be careful with this type of experience, he’d seen both of them very often in his past, simultaneously at times.

The “delusion” if it was supposed to be that, was far less abstract as delusions go. No hallucinations dancing in his peripheral vision or colors minging into a blur. Speaking of colors, the only oddity about this vision was the lack of colors.

It was obvious when he turned around to the unreadable sign

 

“Wait a sec, I thought this was _blue,_ indecipherable garbage.

Not _red… DE-cipherable…. Garbage?”_

He stared into the textbox, once a pile of blue markings and incomprehensible symbols, discarded their previous appraisal. They actually looked like letters now, grouped in a way to create audible words, in turn arranged to say something with actual meaning!

_When all four bridge seeds align in the water, they will sprout_

 

“Alright, NO…”

 

Brainz backed away from the literature and went right up to the stream of liquid ice, almost tripping on his dormant shotgun.

“- I can just _barely_ take everyone _else_ doing all this magic weirdness bullshit

But _me?_ This is where I call it.”

I am _not_ looking out of my left eye, it’s broken.

And I _CAN NOT,_ read… whatever this is.”

 

He got down to his knees and saw his reflection: red eye gazing through him even through the distortion of moving water.

“Reality check, GO!”

And into the water his head went, the cold felt like one thousand needles piercing into his face. Brainz held his head under the threshold and counted to ten before pulling out back into the world gasping and coughing raggedly.  

“Alright… lets try again.”

He wiped the dripping liquid from his face with his sleeve, and separated both pairs of eyelids, the absolute cold seemed to assuage the swelling on his right eye.

 

When he opened both of his eyes, he found himself looking down at a small puddle forming on the ground from his soaked hair, half of his nose lay in his peripheral vision.

Brainz turned his head off of the ground and to the final verdict hanging on the wall, blue squiggles made it impossible to make out.

Back to normal.

 

“Phew!”

He shook his head like an animal attempting to dry off, snickering with relief as he got up once more.

“I knew it, I toldja I wasn’t seeing that, just needed to _wake up_ a bit.”

In honesty, part of Brainz wished that he’d _actually_ wake up, out of this nightmare when he pulled his head up, but not being _as_ crazy as you anticipated was good enough for now. But the analysis of what he just witnessed still bothered him.

He sighed dolefully when acknowledging it.

 

“I know what this has to mean though, this just means that I’m already getting hit by the drug withdrawal. _Harder_ than I thought too…

 

So this sign right here is very real, but I just saw it wrong, no biggie.”

 

A hand lightly pushed on his aching stomach.

“No… _Shit…_ this _is_ a big deal. I’m more dependent than I thought, that _‘I can stop whenever I want.’_ thing is bullshit… I need hard narcotics, gotta get the fuck out of here ASAP before I completely lose it.”

 

Back to looking around the room, the digression with his eyesight had officially ended. Brainz diverted his attention back to the disproportionate looking plants again.

 

_One, two, three, four… there’s exactly four of them here, just like the sign said, could they work?_

 

“No-”

He crossed his arms to assert a point in arguing with himself.

 

“-I didn’t actually _read_ anything talking about that, _that_ was a hallucination brought on by my brain being physically dependent on class II narcotics. Doesn’t matter that there’s four, it _wouldn’t work.”_

 

_Do you really have anything to lose just by TRYING? You don’t think that those manhole cover sized plants would be able to float?_

 

“Yes! I would!-”

He snapped at himself.

“- My goddamned sanity! If I started to _believe_ the garbage that I’m making up in my head, then I’d just be succumbing to this deluded place! How am I supposed to try to explain _that?!_ What-”

He put on an exaggerated and very sarcastic voice, for himself… ironic being it made less sense than the things he were referring to.

“- _Oh yeayuh! Gonna put put some giant flowers on a raging current and use them as a bridge. TOTALLY not gonna get carried away by the water and fall into oblivion. And Why not? Because it’d be MAGICAL!_

_And everything I know about this world would be wroooong wrong wrong!”_

 

His thoughts snapped right back at him,

 

_And you’re not wasting your “oh so precious” time or sanity sitting here and Arguing with YOURSELF?? You are literally yelling out loud at yourself about wasting your time. You know very goddamned well that this shit isn’t going to make sense just like everything else. Why do you even BOTHER trying to explain it?_

_What accomplishment do you get when you ‘debunk’ whatever fantastic crap you see down here, what do you gain when you convince yourself that the world is trying to lie to you, that YOU are lying to you. You ever think THAT is where you wasting your time? Arguing with everything that doesn’t fit into your predictable little world? Arguing with yourself?_

 

His defiant stance deflated, and he had nothing to rebuke himself with, so his thoughts sought to finish their point, feeling a little less agitated.

 

_Look, you’re so concerned with trying to make sense out of everything, using your small, personal existence as your reference. In the end, it seems that YOU’RE the one making the least sense, not this world._

Brainz began to wilt in his posture, he really couldn’t know how to cope with this, _himself._ Stepping outside of his miniscule and bleak reality was simply unheard of for him, Taboo. But actually accepting that the real world allowed for these transgressions against _everything?_

 

Even he knew… _that_ wasn’t going to happen unless some incredible form of irrefutable evidence was burnt into his eyes and welded to his brain: even then, he knew that it wouldn’t be a pleasant experience. Even thinking that he’d fall off his wagon.

His thoughts softened and sought to lighten the subject.

 

_Besides, someone obviously went through the trouble of placing those flowers there, so throwing them off of the side of the waterfall will at least piss them off if they don’t work._

 

That, made him change attitudes, still despite the hundreds of questions regarding the logic of this whole scenario now being carried by the newfound fear of going ‘bonkers’: Brainz pushed them into the place where all of his other questions and concerns went.

 

He picked up one of the flowers, it was as light as a piece of paper: perfect assurance for something you’re supposed to trust to hold your weight.

 

“This is so stupid.”

 

And onto the water it went, it bobbed on the surface and remained near stockstill, a complete disregard to the current below.

“What? Oh come _oooon,_ you can’t be serious right now.”

 

The second and third flowers were thrown in next, they too stuck to the surface, Brainz held the last one for just a moment. A bit of a sarcastic smirk formed on his lips.

 

“Alright alright, I swear to god, If I put this down and this actually works, then I am going to seriously…

Seriously-”

 

He just had that conversation… with himself, his complaint was too redundant to continue on.

And with a carefully thought out toss, all four of the anomalous flowers lined up. To his sense of dissatisfaction, the sign was true to its print and the flowers opened to their aforementioned manhole cover size right before Brainz’s squinted eye.

 

“You’ve got... to be kidding me right now, I don’t believe this.”

 

Walking was believing, while incredibly hesitant to try himself, Brainz was able to walk right across the newly created bridge without any problem, except with the logic of it.

 

“And now _physics,_ physics has joined with reality and officially abandoned me too, _just great_ . Magic flowers, _who knew?_ ”

 

“It’s narcotics withdrawal, I know it _is_ …

It _HAS_ to be.”

 

Ignoring it, and moving forward.

“Of course, what a surprise...”

The first room was just a lesson, the second room sought to quiz him on the use of these bizarre flowers, large gaps for two choices of path with another quad of blossoms arranged just for him. More evidence suggesting what he saw was quite-

“Fuck off...”

 

Make it _three_ choices, one of them would only lead to a sign facing the wall, 2 choices to escape and 1 waste of time just to see what some ‘idiot’ who put the sign down the wrong way had to say to anyone coming here.

_It’s two choices actually, the sign doesn’t count._

“Which way do I go?

I have no idea which one I’m supposed to take to get outta here…”

 

He sighed but still perked up afterwards.

“- But _hey,_ what a problem to have! At least I _have_ a fifty percent chance not to go the same way as that jacked up knight. It’s only _half_ certain that I’m fucked now! Excellent. I’m going this way.”

 

He grabbed all the blossoms and threw them down again, just like before: they opened up and defied physics once again for him to pass through. He accepted them as the infinitely improbable outcome of unadulterated coincidence. Right under the rug while all the _real_ problems soiled it.  

 

“Oh right, I just remembered why me having a choice is a _bad_ thing-”

 

He’d found himself at a dead end, a small chamber housing nothing but a bench next to another one of those large, ornate blue flowers. The ones that were almost taller than him. Looked like he made the wrong choice, _again…_

 

“God- _dammit…_ ugh. What’s even the point of this shit, if you have to play a stupid little game: doubt your sanity just to sit on some dirty ass bench and-”

 

There was something _under_ the ‘dirty’ bench that stopped him from complaining. He was reluctant to touch it out inhibition it would jump out at him, but after prodding it with the shotgun barrel, he went for it on the grounds that it was probably inanimate.

 

_It looks like a pie… No… it’s… a quiche_

_That’s a quiche._

 

“You know what?

I’m not even going to question it

Flower bridges leading to bench quiches, No thanks.

I’m good… _really.”_

 

He let the pan fall to the ground with a   **_-klunk!-_ ** wiping his hands on his pants for basic half-assed sanitation compulsions.

 

“And what’s the story on _this_ thing?”

After experiencing pink flowers that turned into load bearing tiles, he began to question the value of _blue_ flowers. How they just stood straight up all glistening like, completely and utterly blue, no signs of green for the stem or leaves. He looked right at it.

 

“Knowing _this_ place, I wouldn’t be surprised if this thing started talking to me or some shit.”

He grabbed the thing-

“ **Knowing** **_this_ ** **place, I wouldn’t be surprised if this thing started talking to me or some shit.”**

 

-He jumped back a couple feet. Staring at it to see what it’d do next. Strung up to blow the pretty petals all over the wall.

“What the fuck was _that?_ Are you alive or something?!”

 

No answer. He raised his voice and added more command to it.

  
“Hello? I asked you a question! If you’re alive you better tell me or else you _won’t_ be for much longer!”

 

Again, no answer. It just stood, defying him silently.

 

He grumbled with frustration and began to edge towards it cautiously, about to prod it with the shotgun.

“If you pop out at me, I’m going to pull the trigger, I swear to god.”

 

He held out his weapon as far as his arm could reach and finally poked the blue face with the gun, he _immediately_ retracted the shotgun to his arms when it *spoke* again.

 

“ **If you pop out at me, I’m going to pull the trigger, I swear to god.”**

“Huh?”

 

A little less caution this time, he went up to it again and pushed it with his hand.

 

**“Huh?”**

 

A neutral sigh came out, he wasn’t sure to make it out of exasperation or relief, an ambiguous sigh. He then raised a brow and gave a snide grunt.

 

“You know, when I said the thing about talking flowers, I _really_ wasn’t being serious.”

 **“You know, when I said the thing about talking flowers, I** **_really_ ** **wasn’t being serious.”**

 

He eased some of the scorn on his face and his posture.

“Is copying me the _only_ thing you do?”

**“Is copying me the only thing you do?”**

 

“ _Me?!_ No no no! _YOU_ are the one copying _ME!”_

 **“** **_Me?!_ ** **No no no!** **_YOU_ ** **are the one copying** **_ME!”_ **

 

He feigned outrage, having a bit of difficulty doing it, too.

“ _What?!_ I talked first! You are _soo_ full of it!”

 **“What?! I talked first! You are** **_soo_ ** **full of it!”**

 

A full blown argument formed out of this, but he was starting to smile.

 

“Oh my _GAW-DUH_ you are so friggen _annoying!_ ”

 **“Oh my** **_GAW-DUH_ ** **you are so friggen** **_annoying!_ ** **”**

 

“YOU started it!”

“ **YOU started it!”**

 

“No I did _NOT!_ _YOU did!”_

“ **No I did** **_NOT! YOU did!”_ **

 

“ _Noo!_ You!”

“ **_Noo!_ ** **You!”**

“Shut up!”

**“Shut up!”**

“No, _you_ shut up!”

 **“No,** **_you_ ** **shut up!”**

 

He held his tongue for just a second and grinned deviously.

“ _I’m_ a stupid blue flower that repeats everything I hear because I don’t have a brain to actually make words!”

One hand fanned over his ear, eager to hear what the flower had to say, a classic exaggerated gesture.

 

 **“** **_I’m_ ** **a stupid blue flower that repeats everything I hear because I don’t have a brain to actually make words!”**

 

He couldn’t argue with that, he had to cover his mouth to stifle how much he was cracking up. Who cared if it made absolutely no sense at all, it was funny. He straightened his face when he was quite finished and shook his head.

“Okay, this is pretty stupid: I probably should get back to running for my worthless life from everyone.”

He turned to go back to the larger room, but spun right back around.

“Actually… before I go.”

 

He leant close to the flower and supplied it with one final message, whispering gently into the thing with a brooding tone.

“Brainz Wasn’t Here.”

“ **Brainz Wasn’t Here.”**

 

He made sure to get some distance as he headed back before he thought out loud again.

“Aight, perfect.”

 

He returned to the room and held the smirk on his face, while he just witnessed another anomaly of reality, this one didn’t bother him so much as amuse him. Sure it was stupid and left a lot of questions to be desired, but for this one time: Brainz strangely didn’t mind it.

 

Who cared if it was some sort of hallucination conceived from a sick mind? It was another one of those brief distractions from his bleak reality, it was _fun._

“ _Alll_ -righty now-”

He clapped his hands together.

“- Looks like I’m taking convenient gap to utilize strange ass flower bridge thingies: number two.”

He went to pick up the flowers from their posts in the water, they wouldn’t budge.

“ _Rnngh!_ C’mon now.”

He lay his weapon down and pulled on one of the blossoms with all of his strength, ultimately fruitless, they were stuck there for _good._

He gave up and sighed from the exertion.

 

“ _Daaamn!_ You gotta be kidding me! Where’s the off button on these? Do you-”

He tried again and strained his words while doing so.

“ _-seriously, only get… Hnng ONE… chance?!_

_Phew!”_

 

He couldn’t do it, the failure took away the good mood he was in.

 

“Hmmph! Well _this_ is just genuinely stupid! What kind of bullcrap is this? What am I supposed to do now?”

 

The walls of the room were not completely soulless, he saw a glossy looking bell affixed next to what he assumed was another information plaque: or evidence that he was losing it depending on if he could read it or not.

 

“What the… I don’t…

 _Oooooooh!_ It’s a service bell… someone’s gotta come and reset these, ah ok… that makes sense I guess.”

 

He nodded with understanding, then stopped abruptly and scrunched his face.

“Wait! No it doesn’t! Jesus Mary Christ, what the fuck am I saying? I’m just _letting_ this shit get to my head already.”

 

He vigorously shook his head to knock some of the insanity loose, and then re-collected himself.

 

“Well _I’m_ not ringing it, that’s the last thing _I_ need to do: wait for some moron to get here only for them to kick the shit out of me for being a human.

It’s probably a trap. Hard pass.”

 

Reading the sign adjacent to it wasn’t going to happen either.

 

He approached the other gap that went somewhere and leant over.

“Besides… this isn’t

This is….

I-I -I..

I could probably jump across this.

Yeah… this isn’t too bad, just gotta get a running start.”

 

He gave himself a handful of steps away from the gap and leapt for it, he _barely_ touched down to the other side, the weight from his bag almost caused him to tumble into the water from the close and slick landing.

 

“Ohh man that was a close one, sz’a good thing I’m holding the heaviest thing in front of me, balance it out.”

 

He proceeded and glowered a bit.

 

“I probably coulda done this in the first place…  spared a couple minutes… oh well, it’s just s’more regrets. I’ll put it with the others.”

 

The thought lingered until he got a view of the next room.

“Oh hey, more mimicry flowers, wonder what they say.”

He tried the first one.

**“Oh hey more mimicry flowers, wonder what they say.”**

He drooped his brows,

“Shoulda seen-”

There was another flower just yards away from the first one, he caught himself and reduced his thoughts to a whisper.

“ _Shoulda seen that coming.”_

 

Before he’d approach it, there was another sign on the wall, probably something to explain the function of these flowers given the room allocated just for them.

“Hmmph…”

 

He sighed dejectedly.

“Y’know… if I’m hiding from these things, I may as well be trying to hide from myself, and that really didn’t work out for me the first hundred times I tried it.”

Both of his eyes were covered, and he approached the thing on the wall.

“Why half ass it? If I’m fuck’n losing it, I may as well be sure. What’s a little more evidence?”

 

Hoping for the best but expecting the worst, he apprehensively peaked at the first placard on the wall, making a control for his little experiment of trying to read it.

 

“Plooshy blagga garba yettirish gibberish.

That’s what I thought…”

 

But what he _didn’t_ think to do, at least not as a serious choice: until now. Was brought up with by a little twinge of discomfort still lingering in his right eye. Brainz covered the opposite one, beginning the self administered eye/mental examination.

 

No difference, still unable to read the thing, and still seeing the world with monocular vision.

 

“Aight… here we go.”

 

He took a deep breath, the deepest he could manage with his lungs, and pushed on to the experimental group, both of his eyelids denied the world from him. Only one pair of eyelids separated again.

The monopoly of black broke away, and near immediately did something take its place.

_WISHING ROOM_

 

Searing red letters declared their existence to the similarly red iris that behold them. The world that housed them was a dead ringer for the world Brainz stood in. Faux stars decorating the false sky, offering their exaggerated light to the grounds below.

 

Brainz took in the world around him inside of his becoming less credible at the moment: delusion. His _personally_ contrived reality here was so much closer to the contrived reality he lived in now, only with the exception of the flowers that decorated the room before him. Standing out, a radiance of pure _red_ light against the gray room.

He blinked each eye, inversing which one soaked in the light. The flowers blinked in accordance.

_Blue to Red - Red to blue._

 

The sign followed, increasing the contrast between each eye.

_Blue and illegible_

_“WISHING ROOM” created in red._

 

It could only be one or the other, never both and never at the same time. When both eyes were forced to conform to each other, the red one would refuse to comply, it would stare at the world along with the other: gazing at all but seeing nothing.

He took a lot of consideration into mind about what he’d just confronted himself over, and decided to let out a very long sigh, a defeated sigh.

“I… am still half blind.

At any time… Only one of my eyes will work.

And then! And then… if I only use _this THIS_ mangled thing on my face, this Blood red eye stuck to me…

It doesn’t even work properly… because it’s colorblind… _I’m_ partially colorblind… to blue?”

 

He looked around the room once more in his new perception of monochrome gray with red, the only red entities in the room were originally blue. Blue flowers and blue scrawls of text. So it could’ve made sense as “selective colour blindness” But it didn’t excuse the eldritch ability to comprehend the words before him.

 

A hand stroked the cold, lifeless surface of the wishing room sign, running the hand; spare half a ring finger, over the symbols. The callused fingers twitched sporadically.

 

“Wishing…. Room. It says wishing room, that’s what this is.  Buncha stars… lotta flowers to eavesdrop on ya… it adds up. It’s real, yeah…”

_Think of something else, quick!_

He twitched violently, snirking with the few spasms, but jerked his pose and looked up to the ceiling to aid in a thought.

“Actually, could this just mean there’s something wrong with my right eye? Or just the part of my brain that controls it? Don’t get me wrong, this is one of those things that could probably push me over the edge if It meant something else, but, hmmm.”

 

It was _really_ more of a busy thought to keep himself from that breakdown he was worried about. It was actually more of an old policy brought back to work, where Brainz would find something he didn’t understand, and rather than try to accept it: he could just blame himself and leave it at that. Not terribly wise, but it worked here.

“ _Blegh,_ I still don’t need to be giving myself problems, and I can’t even control this one…”

 

_Under the rug where it can’t harm you: sure, do that. It’s a step up from impromptu psychoanalysis and it’ll prevent a mental breakdown, why not? If you’re not going to listen to yourself at all, then don’t even come up with all this crap you think of._

Brainz scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Still gonna be annoying though, having to go back and forth covering my eyes and trying not to think about it, I’d rather not look out of the weird eye for anymore than I have to, not used to seeing everything all gray and red.”

Another sigh and a disapproving head shake at himself.

“I wonder if anything back there would look different through this… hmm

But nah nah… I’m done… I’m good.”

He ended his digression by digressing back to the task at hand.

“So, Wishing Room, hm?”

 

He looked up at the ceiling, the faux starts adorned to it seemed to shine brighter than the other rooms, it was a more… _hopeful_ glow. There wasn’t much else to note about the room mostly because his attention was taken by some more of the mimicry flowers ahead.

 

Brainz went to the next flower and caressed the petals hoping his conversation with himself didn’t override it. He was met with a voice _other_ than his for once.

 

“ **Thousand of people wishing together can’t be wrong! The king will prove that.”**

 

Acknowledged with a “huh”  he went to the next flower.

 **“Cmon, sis! Make a wish!”** **  
** To the final one.

**“I wish my sister and I will see the real stars someday.”**

 

“Huh…”

His lips didn’t move this time, Brainz felt a desire to preserve the messages, some odd feeling not to disturb them. The words he’d hear from himself would exist only in his head, a seldom occasion when he consciously made the words in his head.

 

“It’s like a wishing well… weird… they want to get out of here…

I bet the first flower I screwed up was about the thousands of people wanting to leave, or at least something close. So now something I actually want to ponder is what’s stopping them?”

 

He walked forward trying to remember any relevant to that, it wasn’t like he had a source of information answering that exact question forgotten in his duffel bag. Forgetfulness aside, he saw one more flower, lonesome besides the company provided by a

Telescope?  


Two things that seemed illogical, the flower came first, the telescope second.

**“Ah… seems my horoscope is the same as last week’s.”**

 

Again, still in his thoughts he asked himself, with courtesy to the flower beside him.

“Horoscope? Down here? Is that what the telescope is for?”

He looked at the device and up to the ceiling.

 

“But… there’s no hole or sky, I don’t understand and-

Nope… not even gonna start, just be a waste of time.”

 

He did decide to take a look through the lens: morbid curiosity. He was treated to a beautiful tapestry of stars and glimmering shapes off in the horizon, it was of course some kind of trompe, but it still looked nice… except for the markings on the lens.

It seemed someone drew on it with a marker, Brainz could barely make out what it had to say.

_CHECK WALL_

_^_

 

Brainz broke his new policy of inner thought and blurted out loud.

“What?”

 

He looked up from the telescope, and down the path he’d have to go, he found the fabled wall rumored by the arrow pointing at it.

Right in the middle of his path, creating a dead end.

 

“What….”

  
  
  



	7. Uncongenial Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So you think you've reached the darkest chamber of hell, impossible to fall any deeper?  
> Such magical thinking cannot go unpunished.  
> Justice shall be bestowed upon you in the form of 'cerulean impalement' 
> 
> That'll teach you, maybe even permit you to teach others...  
> If you get that far that is...

 

“The hell is this shit?”

He let out a long groan, no longer giving thought to the plight of the recorder flowers.

 

“Are you freaking serious right now? What the hell is _this?!_ A dead end?  Did I seriously come all this way just for a dead end and some convoluted note to tell me that I _indeed_ hit a dead… freaking end!?”

 

He stormed right up to the wall, vexed to say the least.

 

“How can _this_ make sense? I saw that kid go this way, and this is the _only_ way to go, so where the hell did they go? Or that huge lug in the armor?

Did _THEY_ write that message on the telescope just to fuck with me?

What did they do, write it with their teeth or something?!”

 

He felt the smooth stone ending his path, then twitched angrily.

“This is _Horseshit!_!”

 

**_-KRACK!-_ **

Brainz opened his eyes right up, and stared down at his leg, half of it vanished into the stone.

“What- -the?”

 

He felt the wall an additional time and gave it a couple of knocks with his other foot. It gave him a hollow sound, and a piece of it on the last tap gave away.

 

Brainz smashed the rest of the barrier apart with enough force to clear it and some of his frustration, he’d cleared the opening and brushed some of the debris off of himself.

_CHECK WALL… that’s what it was trying to do._

 

He half cracked up with relief.

“Well _that_ figures! Ohh man, I almost thought I had to go back! Ohhh jesus...

A-heh heh… heh…. Heeeerr-”

 

Again, relief was short lived and he changed his attitude.

“ _No!_ It doesn’t figure!

This doesn’t figure at all!

What the hell _is_ this?”

 

He crushed some of the larger pieces of debris under his boots into a fine powder.

 

“Who the hell did _this?_ Am I seriously supposed to assume that- that kid had the time to build this and dress it with seamless camouflage to mess with me?

I really don’t even want to try to think  how they managed to do this without friggen _ARMS!-”_

 

He clapped his hands together to get the rest of the schmutz off.

“-But then why would they put a hint on the telescope? Why would they do that? That’s stupid! Or was it that asshole with the armor? That’d be even more stupid, if they wanted to stop me, they probably could've just waited here to kick my ass!

S’not like I have anywhere else to fucking go.”

 

He then shrugged and sighed angrily.

“For fuck’s sakes no, I’m _not_ supposed to give it an excuse anymore. It’s just not worth the time and energy. I’ve already wasted so much of it with the rest of this shit.”

 

Brainz looked up to the false stars and raised his arms, yelling to the impression of the heavens.

“But I will admit they’re doing a _really_ good job at finding more ways to surprise me with the stupidity!

Because there’s just no freaking end!

Jesus Christ!!”

 

He carried on, back to the old grind of pushing ahead while being greatly irritated, at least the next room seemed to _really_ open up. A long dock bordering a massive pool of pitch black water, no end in sight.

“Hm, huh wow, this is actually starting to look better-”

Brainz exclaimed a small gasp.

“-Oh! Man, this could probably be connected to the lake out there! The uhm… _errruh-”_

Fingers snapped,

“- I don’t care what it’s called, it could be my way out! _._

Fucking hell, I’d swim a triathlon in ‘Titanic’ water if it meant I’d get away from here.”

 

There were some more of the neon blue signs on the wall, they seemed to take his attention from a potential escape, despite how insignificant they’d be if he actually would escape.

 

Another exasperated sigh, well over done.

“Alright, let’s have a look: freaky ass red eye, do your thing and don’t question it…”

 

Brainz had snuffed the world from his sight for just a moment until the monochrome world replaced it, the text was still quite difficult to read, actually. But all he needed to do was squint and guesstimate a couple of letters.

 

_THE WAR OF HUMANS AND MONSTERS_

 

He widened his eye and attention. Gasping at the abrupt invitation for some form of explanation. Brainz became instantly invested, and he moved to the next sign.

It was barely legible, in his new fit of impatience, Brainz had to read the first line multiple times before it looked like actual English this time.

 

_Why did the humans attack?-_

 

That first line hit him, he’d read it up to six more times just to dissuade himself from assuming a comprehension error. But to his disful realization, it was written as so:

The human’s attacked first.

 

He had to ask himself, a dire like question: he couldn’t have had the answer but he needed to ask out loud, just to ensure what he read was true.

“ _We_ started the War?

 _We_ attacked _them?”_

 

Then a late question.

“There was a war?”

 

No more questions, there had to be an explanation for this under the print on the wall, there _HAD_ to be.

- _Indeed, it seemed they had nothing to fear._

 

A bit of a digression from his investment.

“Okay… well I don’t know about _that_ per-se,  I’ve been terrified so much down here that they’re starting not to look so damn scary. I think I’m getting desensitized…  but even at first, that’s not something to go to war about…

Except that Houdini bastard, we can bomb him.”

 

He got as close a look as he could, the lettering was badly diminished, reading it was beginning to give him a headache, a gratuitous soreness.

_Humans are unbelievably strong, it would take the SOUL of nearly every monster… just to equal the power of a single human SOUL._

 

“What?... what does that-”

 

He interrupted himself to move onto the next sign.

 

_But Humans have one weakness. Ironically it is the strength of their SOUL. Its power allows it to persist outside the human body, even after death._

 

Again, increasingly restless questions, becoming hushed whispers.

 

“What is this- I don’t- how does-”

 

_If a monster defeats a human, they can take its SOUL. A monster with a human soul. A Horrible beast with unfathomable power._

 

He didn’t even stop to worry this time, it was straight to the next sign. But _this_ sign wasn’t even written text. Instead, it was an illustration, and Brainz would recognize it as the same thing even in his normal vision or not.

 

It looked like the most generic yet minimal depiction of the christian devil. A horned monster standing tall, claws becoming swords. And what stuck out the most to Brainz, was the symbol branded over the creature. He had seen this before, a winged sphere atop a facade of triangles.

Brainz felt the lump falling into his stomach, he shuddered and had to look away from it. There was just something unsettling about the drawing, the image reeked of dejavu, but Brainz just couldn’t put his finger on it. Not that he wanted to, or even steal another look at it.

“My head… it hurts.

_Eurghh…”_

He needed to lean against the wall for a moment to catch himself, he moved over to the previous sign to get away from the image, it made him too uncomfortable to stay near it. He took his breather to attempt to comprehend what he read. But also to get that image out of his head.

 

“This makes so many questions… and this is without checking if they make sense even, why is there such an emphasis on *souls*? What is the deal with humans, with _ME?”_

He lightly tugged at his sweater, looking at himself as if he’d see some damning feature that branded him.

“Souls… souls… souls, I don’t get it, it’s supposed to just be a religious concept of being alive or some other hopeful crap,but down here it’s like something you can touch and _take."_

 

He went over that one line again,

“ _Unfathomable Power…_ that’s something _really_ out there, like what?: they want to kill me so they can pretty much eat my heart or something, and it’ll make them stronger? What is this, ‘ _Highlander?’_

 

-Bah...-”

 

Brainz departed back to his feet, ending the issue prematurely: as he walked back to the edge of the dock, he took excessive care not to even catch a glimpse of the picture. What he somehow managed to overlook when entering the chamber became very obvious now when he reached the end of the dock.

The dock ended.

 

“ _Another_ dead end? C’mon already… is there really no such thing as an end to this?”

He abruptly facepalmed.

 

“I’m looking right at one, but that’s not what I meant.”

 

He looked around, almost certain his grin wearing stalker would be there to laugh at the accidental joke. Even still being alone, he wanted to make sure he’d be heard despite trying to hide from that big fellow. So he yelled as loud as he could.

 

“ _Y’know- when I said I’d swim through the Titanic, I Didn’t actually MEAN IT!!!_

_Dauuugh!!!”_

 

He wasn’t quite ready to be a pessimist just yet, seeing as he just debunked the last “dead end” Brainz deliberately looked around for anything that wasn’t supposed to make sense. Some form of forced 'deus ex machina', insultingly laid out for him.

 

He noticed a small protrusion of the walkway wasn’t connected. It looked like someone modified a piece of the dock into a tiny raft, just big enough to fit a person, _that_ and that it was laid out conveniently for him to use.

 

“Yhep… there it is.”

 

He took one more look ahead into the sea of black and then back at the little square, a skeptical sneer accompanied raised eyebrows. He got to the ground and tried to submerge the thing with his arm: didn’t even tilt it, and this was even when he tried a full leg and eventually even jumped on it. Completely unburdened by his weight.

 

“Of course, mmm- _hmm_

This is perfect!-”

 

He slapped himself in his face.

“- what could _possibly_ go wrong?-”

 

He did it again

“Clearly, this is the way to go!"

 

He went to strike himself again but,

“ _This_ is… starting to sting.”

 

Brainz found himself without any other options… _again_ , staring into forced uncertainty by some exaggerated coincidence. He wasn’t even sure if this _was_ an option too, it could’ve been a red herring leading him into a trap. But like his life, he just had no other choice and was forced to take it and go for the worst.

He sat down on the little raft, legs crossed with his things laying on top to center the balance, come the raft deciding to obey physics and be susceptible  to capsizing.

“Here goes nothing, and my _everything…_ I guess.”

 

He pushed himself from the dock, and once his arms gave away from the planks, there was no turning back. Slowly: the path behind him disappeared and left only the lake of black to carry him.

“Welp… seeing as I probably fucked myself just now, but probably a very slow and hungry way. What was I on about now?”

 

He huddled himself a little bit tighter, thinking of how cold the water must’ve been.

 

“Ah right! Right. The freaking _War with people_ and stuff, yeah. Like… what the hell _is_ all that? I mean, it must be so important down here that it’s inscribed into the walls and stuff-”

 

The momentum of the little plank never seemed to slow, despite lacking any propulsion or current, but Brainz was happy enough _not_ to have to stick his hands into the stuff, so he let himself ignore it and carry on.

 

“- that _can’t_ be true though, it just can’t be! If some interspecies war happened like that, there’d be no end to the amount of stories and books about it. That kind of shit would be something you put into textbooks! You'd make Lovecraft blush! I’ve never _ever_ heard of anything like this before, let alone experienced this first hand, and it’s _still_ unbelievable.”

 

He rubbed at his face and yawned, along with actually falling asleep for a minute: he was only now starting to feel a touch drowsy and lethargic. To him: probably withdrawal.

“- _Huaaooah…_ Boy.

 

But like, seriously: Why has this place never been discovered before, and why would I not even find some crackpot on public access preaching about talking skeletons, armless dinosaurs, and sentient fire? Government cover up?

They wouldn’t leave this place open and unguarded, there’s just no way. _Hmmmmph…_

 

Even then though, I still can’t figure what the deal was with me before I even shot that asshole back at the snow place. What did he say he did? “Hunting Humans as a job?” What the hell did we do that these things hate us so much? Are we still at war or something? But then what does that say about T-”

A sudden stop giving a jolt to the raft caused him to stop, he’d reached the other side of the lake, this _was_ laid out on purpose for him. It was just like the stepping flowers, nonsensical but convenient: very suspicious.

 

“Well what do you know? I’m back to guessing If I’m fucked or not, that’s a relief…  I guess.”

 

He reoriented his things and stepped onto the other side of the dock.

“Alright, out of the magic bullshit boat, and into the creepy, dark, unlit dock with no idea what’s ahead, who’s ahead, or where I’m going…. Eh, I think the original phrase sounded better.”

 

He took all of two steps and then stopped.

“ _Oooooh!_

That’s right, I remember now! I _did_ read about a war-”

 

And finally, perhaps something of the genesis of a new perspective, Brainz retrieved the forgotten book he’d received from Toriel, the one that probably explained all the writing on the walls.

“-god I am such a freaking, _mooorrrr_ on!!”

 

He lightly battered his forehead against the book, before opening it and panning through pages looking for something that appeared interesting.

 

“Alright, Im’a see how much time and sanity I wasted by not actually sucking up and reading this.

Ahhm..

Mmmm..

 

_Uhhng-”_

That image of the beast haunted him once more, given new power from the medium of hand drawn illustration, smudged and distorted by smeared ink. It made him shiver, Brainz covered the picture with his free hand and went to read what it meant.

_A long time ago, a human-”_

* * *

 

**_-KRACK!!!-_ **

“The fuck was that?”

The noise originated from a foot at most in front of him, Brainz looked up from the damp marked pages to see a very familiar shade of blue, shaped into a point: splintering the wood in front of him.

 

He was still calm, just very bewildered and a touch anxious, he whispered to himself: lowering his reading to get a better glimpse.

 

“whoa... what… the hell? Wait.”

 

_Oh no…  you’ve seen that before._

 

Slowly… vainly. He turned to face it, and just as he knew and feared: there it was. The voluminous figure stood on elevated ground parallel to Brainz. It stared at him, more blue spears clutched in its grasp, while a yellow light glared at Brainz from inside the helm on its shoulders: the light, it tried to pierce into his soul. Such a glow sought to do such a thing: Brainz had seen it before and recognized it all too well.

It Radiated with hatred.

 

There was silence… the sound of calm waters from beneath gave courtesy to pause the gentle pattern. The world waited patiently as igneous gazes met upon each other.

 

Inside, he was numb: all feeling, painful or not became nothing. But he knew what was happening beneath the ink on his skin, adrenaline kneeling down before the threshold. The venue of lifeblood ready to grow, dilate before the rush. All prepped except their orders:

Fight?

Flight?

Or both.

 

“We-”

Brainz had unpaused the world, taking a had swallow and a quivered breath just to prepare for what he knew was inevitable.

“-We aren’t going to be friends…

 _Are_ we…”

 

From his hope ridden tone and burdened expression, it was one of the first rhetorical questions created from something other than sarcasm. Just like its intention, there was no answer or even a reaction from the huge thing. It simply stared at him, the helmet and attire hid the face, giving into that menacing appearance.

It gave him nothing, no emotions, no intentions, nothing but uncertainty and anxiety. Brainz couldn’t have known what was behind that helmet, and that along with everything down here was what got to him the most.

 

Was this some vein of psychological trial, a tactic to break morale? Or was this monster just as stalled from fear as he was? Something about humans, right? Brainz couldn't remember on the spot, he was too wound up.

 

The time allotted for speculation ended when the monster before him had raised its arm, rearing to through the mighty weapon at him. It had decided not to allow such a rhetorical question after all, it had answered “No” when the spear almost impaled Brainz to the floor through his eyes.

  


This wasn’t supposed to be terrifying: By all means it was typical: Running for his life while certain death struck the very ground he’d walked upon. He was quite used to it really, the barrage of killing blue may of well have been a pack of snarling dogs keen to ripping his limbs off, or the sound of weapons clicking to life sought for him to fall to the ground in a puddle of himself.

But _this_ was different, the way he looked down at his feet to force them to run faster, arms swinging madly through the air, the premature ventricular contractions between frantic beats with the sound of every wood impact feeling closer and closer. There was something else to this, the goliath clad in iron that hunted him so, to violently snuff his dramatic existence out with one quick strike.

 

Unlike any other end he could fathom, he needed to know what was coming to him; what finally took him down. He didn’t want to go without knowing, _why._ He couldn't depart from this world so prematurely, not without knowing why these things came to be, why he ended up here.  To an ultimate truth it was simply put: _He wasn't supposed to die here, not here, not now._

 

Now sprinting for dear life on a slippery dock with horrid visibility going god knows where, being targeted by an unexplained infinite supply of blue spears provided by some armored, pissed beast was a good bid for the worst: Brainz even dared to consider it _was_ the worst in the moment. He was punished for such hopeful thinking, that the dock abandoned its linear formation and began to conform into jagged turns and twists. An architectural middle finger to him. 

 

“What is _with_ this goddamned place?!!”

That was of course, barked inside of his head, Brainz couldn’t manage to put anything together in actual speech outside of a reiteration of “Shit!” riding on his desperate pants for air. The ‘unfair’ dock design made dodging the projectiles especially difficult, it didn’t _need_ to be slippery to screw him over, but of course it went for gratuity.

 

After one projectile almost took his head off, Brainz looked ahead through a blurring radius to see something truly rare. His path rejoined a corridor of tight rock and low ceilings, while his enemy’s path simply ended. It was a reprieve, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. It was back into his fabled sixth gear, he pushed furiously to get away.

 

It was _right_ there: there was even an alluring patch of that concealing jungle grass to only increase desire! Brainz was just at the brink, he was _so_ close to getting away…. But on the last step he’d need, his foot slid from under him against the slippery surface and he fell flat on his face, skidding and tumbling the remainder of his momentum.

 

“Aaaaagh!

No, _Fuuu-UUUUAAAUGK!!”_

 

He half screamed when he tried to get back onto his legs, a massive surge of hard misery exploded from his left ankle as his the side of his foot gave way and slammed against the dock. He fell onto his back, made excessively uncomfortable from all the metal doing everything but cushioning the impact in his bag, he was unable to get up to run. At least in the time he had to live, which was diminishing quickly.

 

Brainz bleakly looked down from his twisted foot in exponentially heightened terror. He saw the monster towering right over him on the same path now. It spared no time for dramatics and reared up another spear to finish him off.

 

_No, no NO, NO! NOO!!! DO SOMETHING!!!_

 

He couldn’t, nothing he’d do would be able to stop what was coming, the underground would finally have taken him down with its grand warrior.

 

 _No no… Fuck being cold, you’re going for a swim! Go goddammit! GO!_   


Brainz tried to align himself flat to the ground to make a roll for the icy water, if he still believed in physics, then there’d be no reason his assailant wouldn’t sink to the floor in all that non buoyant gear. But it didn’t cross him, he was just too desperate to get away to think.

 

Again though, he wasn’t going anywhere with all that bulk under him. He couldn’t even get his head flat against the ground, it bumped into something hard and metallic.

A tiny digressive thought.

“Ow!, what the?”

 

An arm reached to feel the item, a smooth barrel all the way until a jagged cut off given from a saw blade. A mark of poor craftsmanship and rushed work, but Brainz needed a sawed off shotgun so it would fit and-

 

He hysterically gasped

 

“I’ve got a fucking _SHOTGUN!”_

He barked loudly, turning all of the volatile energy inside of him into rage. He partially rolled off of the weapon and immediately when he pointed it the right way, pulled the trigger just as the mortal spear sought to leave the sender.

 

The thunderous blast startled his executioner, enough that the spear was thrown off course and it deviated right off the path: missing the human on the ground: while the lead pellets flattened themselves into the breastplate. It sounded off like a bell similar to the ringing in their ears, they punctured right through the armor, leaving a sporadic mess of holes: the force and trauma knocked the creature right off balance into a stumble.

 

He forced his way into taking his chance, Brainz used all of his will and might to act on it it and yelled with effort as he pushed himself onto his legs, leaning more on his right foot. The thing recovered from the stumble and held a gauntlet to the compromised portion of its armor, giving it a quick look and then back to the person who caused it, the person who just racked the shotgun.

 

**_-BLAM!!-_ **

 

The buckshot struck the creature’s knee right at the joint where the protection dithered, it swayed and began to fall from the loss of support, further staggering towards the limit of the wooden path into a cold abyss.

 

Brainz fired again and again, expanding the shells on the moment they entered the chamber, each one becoming a breif moment of orange sparks from the hot led drilling into the iron suit and perhaps splattering the flesh inside. The fourth shot sent the monster into a spiral down into the water, banging the metal helmet into the side of the dock as it fell. It hit the water with a huge splash, partially soaking Brainz in the process. The iron creature sank below the black and in the moment it vanished below the surface, it was gone. The bright blue glow from its weapon ceased beneath the water shortly after.

 

Brainz hopped on his one leg to the edge where the thing was defeated, he looked right into the space where the water was still excited from the body falling in and he fired the last shell into it, spraying clouds of icy mist onto his face. The last shell was ejected from the gun, smoke wisping as it rolled on the ground.

 

He began to wheeze and laugh nervously and frantically, perhaps coming out of shock and into awe out of the realization he was still alive.

 

“Y-yeah?.. Yeah.. _YEEAH!_ Yeah! You like that? You motherfucker?! You fucking  _LIKE IT?!!?"_

  
He bellowed even being out of breath and half turned to jelly, arms shooting behind him to push out more emphasis.

 

“I hope you fucking DROWN!!”

 

He howled with aggravated laughter, seeing the bubbles on the surface decrease. They didn’t last very long at all though: the laughter nor the silence in the water. The water began to bubble and splash right up again, and Brainz’s sense of confidence popped with them.

 

“No! That’s not, That’s not-

That’s not fair! That’s Bullshit!

You're dead! You're fucking dea-

That’s not _fucking fair!!”_

 

Brainz returned to panic and began to hop towards the grass, still unable to put any locomotion onto his left leg, he almost tripped again when he had to scoop up the book that had fallen to the ground near him. It was a three second detour, costly seconds for something just “Full of Fairytales” But something convinced him that it was worth the risk.

 

_It’s important._

 

He grunted and winced with every impact onto the ground, partially losing balance and stumbling but never succumbing to falling over until the last step that completely brought him into the natural cover, he toppled on purpose to disappear.

 

This was only similar to his first encounter with this enemy where he found himself hiding in the grass, but _this_ time, it would have a different ending. Brainz didn’t seek the grass to attempt some form of subterfuge like the last time, No: Instead it was merely a temporary deterrent to buy him time. Enough time to furiously force three more rounds into his shotgun.

 

_Don’t you try to wait for this piece of garbage, you take the first shot now. Surprise that bastard with a load of buckshot right in the eyeholes!_

_FIGHT!_

 

Fury erupted from his core to flood every inch of his body. When it burst into his legs, he jumped up uttering a guttural noise, a cry of war and of pain because he jumped onto both of his feet. Brainz was prepared to to meet the figure inches away from his face, primed to pulverize the occupant's head right through the helmet.

 

He cocked the weapon into its killing state faster than he had ever before, it was the loudest the pump had ever sounded off, reverberating through the cavern with his yells for battle.

 

But in the extension of the moment, it was all for nothing: there was nobody facing the ballistic death. There was nobody to conduct the heavy tempo percussion inside of his chest, Brainz’s only company was his own fanatical just paranoia.

 

“I know you’re there, you bastard!”

The more he stood there, shotgun rattling in his unsteady hands: the less adrenaline and the more pain began to run through him. It became acceptable that he _didn’t_ know it was there, despite all he’d witnessed and failed to witness. Besides, he didn’t see any substantial puddles of water on the dock that’d support the idea that his hunter emerged: he never heard an additional splash either, but he really couldn't hear anything over his heart.

 

Brainz had held his footing for as long as he could, and once he unconditionally accepted that he was alone, Brainz let himself drop down to the floor, groaning all the way.

 

Not goaded to puff himself up and appear intimidating, he let the hurt sound off in his guttural strained mutters.

 

“My-my goddammed fucking foot! Piece of fucking shit!  _Aaaagh!"_

 

He was unable to examine the damage in the thick grass, and being unfit to walk out of it, he had to drag himself through the whole patch. It seemed as if the whole path knew he’d be in this kind of agony and wanted to savor it, because this patch was _far_ longer than the last one and it took him much longer to get into the next clearing, hurting with exertion all the way.

 

When he emerged from the patch, he unfastened the weight from his back and laid out firearm and book beside it. Brainz managed to make himself sit up straight with both of his legs flat and forward. With the rest of the adrenaline fading away, he began to ache horribly again, his ankle contesting for a higher level of agony than his stomach or pounding head.

 

“Just… gotta get this… _off!_ Get this off.

Aaah _Aaah!_ Ah… ahh…. Oh god this hurts….”

 

He’d slipped off his boot and pulled away the ungodly odor providing sock, he winced having to finagle his foot, but winced louder when he saw his exposed foot for the first time since he left that house.

 

It was a mess of pasty yellowed calluses, yet there were far less premature blisters accompanying them than he’d recall. Taking up the largest spot on his foot was the newcomer to his ailments. The red, swollen bulge where his ankle used to be. He could feel it throbbing with his heartbeat, almost growing bigger with every pulse.

 

The gasp he made devolved into a retch while a muffled groan ran up his throat. It made him hack violently, he felt the liquid seeping into his hands when they tried to cover his mouth. When the involuntary coughs ended, Brainz looked into his cupped grip.

 

Heavy, rich scarlet slime ran down his fingers. It was so similar to blood, but far more viscous and phlegm like than before, it was so bright that it was practically radiant like crimson lava.

 

A couple of voluntary coughs and hems sought to clear his throat.

 

“ _Not--- now!-_

 _-_ Not fucking now!

 _Oough!_ Stop being a problem!-”   


He hawked another red glob of ooze to the ground.

“- I have _enough_ already, just please….

Stop… just- stop….”

 

Bloody vomit, debris from ravaged alveoli, or something beyond his knowledge: he was coughing up the red. It wasn’t good news, and squinting at the fluid with the bad eye just made it look even _redder_ as if it needed to appear more anomalous.

The internal bleeding reminded him of how much he needed to leave, so it was onto the traumatized ankle. Brainz utilized the icy water running beside him to get some of the red off of his hands, drying them off on his jeans to spread another shade of his own fluid on them.

 

He had to hold the joint and move it around, as much as it hurt him. His icy fingers and cold palms felt pleasant on his swollen skin. The silver lining helped his small act of triage with its small contribution to relief, it soon followed up with a sigh.

 

“Ooh alright… I can move you all around still, just stiff and hurts like hell-”

One of his hands stopped massaging his foot to caress his head, he then switched his loud thoughts to a more calming and almost soothing tone.

 

“-it’s OK, I’m OK, I am perfectly OK and everything else is- …

Well _I’m_ OK. It’s just a twisted ankle, no break-”

 

A hard swallow, nervous, he looked back at the grass and continued.

“-it’s gone, for now, or maybe even for good. Those bubbles could’ve just been a delayed breath or... I dunno,but either way: It- is - _gone_  for now at least _._ And I think I’m kinda OK for now.”

 

Brainz continued to manually conduct his breathing to largo, he lay back down to reach his inventory resting behind him. He fumbled a bit and felt for a roll of the porous fabric coiled up inside. When he sat back up with his bandage, he unraveled it and began wrapping it around his straightened foot. It was barely the adequate amount of treatment he could administer, but it was all he had. He wouldn’t even be able to honor the normal prognosis for a an ankle sprain, because he still needed to _get out,_ using his legs.

  


With the roll tightly holding his ankle, he loosened up his boot and slipped the foot back into it. Brainz reaffixed his things to his back, (returning the book to them) and used his gun as an impromptu aid to help him up to his feet. It still hurt to put any pressure on it, but the simple splint seemed to help a touch, it allowed him to resume his journey: but at a limp.

 

The ability to continue walking despite the will of the universe gave him spiteful energy as he began to shuffle forwards.

 

“You still didn’t win. You hear me, goddamned world? You didn’t take me down yet, If I’m gonna go down, it’s gonna be me that does it. That hasn’t changed, no matter how many anomalies and absurdities and monsters and ghoulies and ghosts you try to fuck me with. You can keep em coming for all _I_ care, just as long as I have ammo left!”

 

Speaking of which: Brainz loaded two more shotgun shells into his weapon. Despite witnessing the inherent effectiveness of his firearm, he wasn’t satisfied with it. Unsatisfied to the point where he went back on his words and sought additional firepower, delving into the pocket filled with explosive devices.

He heard himself from the past as he searched through them.

_“Hoo… well shit… good to know I have these, I’m not sure I’m to the point I need to carry a fucking grenade in my pocket just yet. Lemme remember to check in ten minutes…”_

 

He compared two devices in his hand.

_You were saying?_

 

One of them got to stay in his hand and the other was returned, Brainz looked up and sighed.

“Y’know, I’m pretty sure it’s been more than _ten_ minutes.”

 

_You wonder how much better off you’d be if you were carrying a “fucking grenade in your pocket” Your foot would probably be fine, and you would know that you have one less problem in the world._

 

“I wanted to think that _maybe_ my life didn’t suck so much that I need to be ready to huck a military grade explosive at someone.”

 

_That’s magical thinking, you know how you feel about magic._

 

He shook his head while examining fuses.

“Do I _really_ know? I mean, _goddamn!_ I ran out of explanations for everything when I started to pull this bullshit. I still can’t get over that for the last two decades that this broken eye that didn’t work _actually_ can now: _AND_ that it can read weird garbled gibberish-”   


He really began to address himself, perking up in energy as if he needed to prevent him from talking.

 

“-and _don’t_ tell me that it’s actually a hallucination. Because I’m _so_ far passed hoping on that. I know what I’m seeing is real and I don’t know why. I think If I keep trying to know it, that I’m gonna end up more fucked up than I already am. Because that’s what I need right? Being hunted by a bunch of monsters just so I can lose it even further.”

 

He was finished with inventory, Brainz found himself clutching two pieces of government property.

 

_PANTONE 5815-U US MILITARY M84 FLASHBANG: STUN GRENADE._

 

_GRENADE, HAND, FRAG, DELAY M67 UNITED STATES MILITARY._

 

“Careful… this thing packs a punch!”

Brainz recited the warning given to him the first time he got his hands on the thing, never needing to adhere to it… until now.

Without his hoodie, he couldn’t simply stow this in the lavishly sized pockets for quick use, but he had an improvisation in mind from the moment he held them in his hands. An idea putting those unused belt loops on his pants to work.

Both explosives latched onto the fabric by their stiff arms, it was a guarantee that they’d stay put, at least until they’d be relieved of their safety pin.

 

“Welp!-”

Brainz reoriented his things and unsteadily stood up, giving a cheerful wince from his bad ankle, matching his chippy demeanor.

 

“- _I’m_ carrying explosives! So now if I see any more of you cock motherfuckers come after me, I’m going to blow you the fuck up!”

 

He twirled his sawed off before slapping it into his grip, ready for action while beckoning to telegraph his aggressiveness as a warning to anyone that could be watching him.

 

“You hear me?! You didn’t stop _this_ sad sack of shit! You fucking failed, and you won’t stop me, not with your bullshit! Not with your zoo of fuckheads! Not even with-”

 

The momentum in his voice was reduced to a neutral crawl.

“-with… is that cheese?”

* * *

 

He found himself giving a speech to a small chamber barren with the exception of a table and another one of those mimicry flowers. That thing on the table looked like a normal wedge of cheese, except the pellucid pink substance that had completely engulfed it.

 

“Errh, yeah…

What about you then? What’s your story?”

He approached the flower.

 

**“Errh, yeah…**

**What about you then? What’s your story?”**

 

An unamused head dropped in disappointment with a scoff.

“I did it again, goddammit.

This is gonna be my wake up call. I _reeally_ gotta stop talking to myself. I really don’t need to help the idea that I’m batshit crazy…”

 

_Why? That’s not even worthy enough to be the LEAST and LAST of your problems, you’ve got way too much on your plate to start worrying about that. You don’t even consider it. Who cares if you’re crazy, you? Don’t you have anything better to do? Like "getting out of here" so bad? You COULD sit down and pretend to be a doctor for your own sake, that'll be a MUCH better use of your time._

 

Brainz rolled his eyes and limped on, multitasking thought degradation with moving: a new tactic.

 

“ _Pssh,_ it's more like _arguing_ with myself."

 

_And Losing._

 

“Shut up!”

He stopped and piped up with the smallest amount of outrage and offense.

 

“ _This_ is a good reason why I’m always in these fucking messes all the time, because I can’t keep my goddamned mouth shut.”

* * *

 

“you too huh?”

 

Everything slammed to a halt, standing by after a perfect recoil: surprised, outraged, terrified. All of Brainz stiffened to a complete stop when the voice had hit him.

 

“we just have so much in common, i know it’s probably a hard _tooth_ to swallow but, you just gotta brace yourself and open up, y’know?”

 

Brainz felt his jaw snap closed into a forceful snarl to finish the grimace on his face, when he was sure it was as exaggerated and angry as it could possible be: (feeling the vessels on his face about to burst) He spun to the left and held the shotgun right up to his shoulder to fire it.

 

“ **_YOU.”_ **

It sounded less like his voice and more like the sound of pent up fury releasing as exhaust in a guttural growl.

 

“whats up, jumps?”

 

That always pearly white grin stood with his hands dormant in his pockets, accompanying another out of place telescope and a never failing box of disappointing emptiness.

 

**_“YOU!!!”_ **

 

Brainz roared, and lurched forward, forcefully thrusting the shotgun barrel into Sans’s coat, it rattled against the exposed ribs beneath the fabric as Brainz trembled with anger.

 

“Give me, _ONE_ good fucking reason not to pull this trigger until this fucking thing goes _*CLICK*!”_

 

He prodded it into Sans again, bumping him against the wall.

“ _ONE_ reason, you smug little prick!

**_ONE!”_ **

 

“well-”

Utterly unintimidated by the threat and unstable demeanor, Sans nodded to the telescope beside him, Brainz didn’t even peek away: _he_ was more hatefully affixed to the skeleton. Really showing it off by the way his teeth pushed into each other with that twitch in his eyes.

 

“- i was thinking of starting a business looking through this telescope. you see: you pay fifty thousand G to look through it. i wanted to try being my own boss because you made it sound too good being able to take a break whenever you want. you wanna take a look? i won't charge ya cause-

_What? That’s totally-_

 

“Aw **_-FUCK- NO!_ ** I’m not falling for your garbage anymore! you son of a bitch, you better stop skull fucking me and start telling me what this horeshit is, or I’m going to fucking shoot you I swear to god! No more games! I want you to tell me what's going on right  _fucking_ now!" 

 

“you sure?”

Sans actually asked _him_ a question for once, _and_ he was actually taking his direction! It was quickly becoming surreal, but Brainz didn’t let up just yet. In Fact, it only pried into him further, into frantic anger territory.

 

Brainz shoved the gun further into San's ribs, pushing him against the stone wall.

 

“ _YES!_ That’s what I’ve been fucking asking of you since the goddamned beginning! Before you pulled your voodoo bullshit and sicked your stupid fucking klazomaniac brother on me!-”

 

He began to rant faster in faster as the stopgap inside of him began to release more pressure.

 

“-I don’t know _what’s_ going on, or _why_ you had to fucking make me into a criminal, but now because of _YOU_ and _YOU_ all on your own, I got this whole cave of freaks coming after me! As if I _wasn’t_ in a world of shit already!”   


It seemed as he went on that this was less of something to interrogate Sans, but really a vent on his built up frustration to prevent Brainz from exploding.

 

“Everyone's fucking after me, taking their best fucking shots to the very desires of their stupid hearts to try to fucking kill me. And I know _you_ know what I just had to fucking do to prevent me from being fucking impaled like a goddamned fish on a stick! What’dja do, offer that fucking metal lughead a big juicy steak if they bring my head back to you?”   


He took one hand off of his weapon and began poking Sans’s nasal bone, to push his point.

 

“You, _yooou_ ,Waiting there with your stupid little fuckface telescope and your stupid smile, I just wanna _MMMMMNNH_ fucking kick those teeth right down your throat. You condescending little fucker, thinkin this is just a little game to you! Putting me through so much trauma to see how much I can take before I bend and snap in two! I am in such a level of pain right now that I can't even comprehend how I'm still standing here!"

  


The height of the ramble had been passed and he was beginning to run out of steam, slowing down and decreasing his volume.

 

“It’s just not cool! I know what I did to him (Papyrus) but what was the deal with me before I even pulled out this fucking thing? (His shotgun) What did I possibly do by just being _me?_ I know that’s a crime where I came from, but how the fuck would you people know to do the same as soon as I showed my face? Are you freaks really having a war with us? If you are then just fucking attack me! Enough of this uncertainty friendly bullshit! I just want some answers! I just want _know,_ why all of this, _is!”_

 

He was running on fumes, there wasn’t much rage left despite the fact that he was talking to the thing that caused all this. It was starting to feel redundant being so angry all the time, it didn’t do much good for him when the moment passed, Brainz didn’t _want_ to be doing this, he didn’t _want_ to be threatening and fighting his way through here. He was just branded as someone who does, and was now forced to live up to that role.

  


“Just… you _know_ what’s going on down here, that you’re so unthreatened by me holding a gun to you, you can probably just teleport away or that bullshit. You know if I’m just wasting my time writhing on and maybe that’s why you’re getting your laughs off of me. Because it’s funny to watch me suffer in vain. You probably know If I'm already dead before I actually keel over and die."

  
A small pause, introspection.

 

“What’s the point, you’re only letting me think I can threaten you because you probably want to: because it  _amuses_ you yeah? If I really tried something, I’d be truly fucked: wouldn’t I.”

  


He took a long breath, as the flames in him shrank down to warm embers, a dying light. Brainz lowered his weapon and stepped away.

“That’s what I get so worked up about, why you like to call me “jumpy.” Because I don’t know anything. I fell down here not knowing that I would open my eyes again, not knowing that: instead of disregarding my life, that I’d abandon all reality as I knew. That nothing was predictable anymore, the floor, the walls, the creatures. Like I’ve fallen into another dimension…

 

You probably don’t even know what I mean… or maybe you do, and I’ll never get to know that, right? It’s going to bother me until the moment I finally succumb and blow my brains out.”

 

That seemed to be the last of it, Brainz let out the last of that quite drawn out breath like the last bout of steam escaping from a dying engine.

“I’m pathetic…”

 

That last bit was really for himself, he’d taken his eye contact away from Sans and directed it into his red stained hands. Inner voices rambled and screamed at him for disregarding his instincts for survival, but the detachment into cold somberness muffled them.

 

Sans allowed a moment of tense silence as if Brainz’s words actually made it inside his hollow skull and he actually needed to parse them. _He_ never stopped looking at Brainz, even when Brainz backed away into his own pity, Sans was still dead centered on him. He could see his lips moving, muttering to him all withdrawn like. Sans would read them as so.

“... fucking disgrace…

Nothing right…

… hate myself so much… “

 

Brainz gazed right back at Sans, and became impatient that Sans let him finish his whole bit.

“Well?...”

 

Sans shook his head.

“nah nah nah, i think you took me wrong with that. i meant like; you sure you don’t wanna have a look? it's a really good deal. it’s a one in a life-”

 

Complete disregard for him, the brief moment that Brainz actually tried to comply was immediately burned to ash. An infuriated snarl rang behind his teeth, he threw down his weapon and took back the space he’d given between him and Sans. Arms outstretched and temper flaring.

  


* * *

  
  


“What are you guys _doing_ yo?”

An awe laden voice sprouted from behind, the same awe and curiosity from behind the poorly named Library.

 

The yellow child joined the scenario in the room, its eyes met with quite a peculiar sight: a grinning skeleton being held up against the wall, clutched by his jacket. The person holding him was practically convulsing and twitching, they had a reddened look in their eyes.

 

Brainz twisted his neck with such the look of surprise and shock, still pinning Sans to the wall. The child squinted one eye and raised the other as wide as it would go, utterly confused.

 

“sup kid, we’re just roughhousing a bit, keeping our job interesting-”

Both him and Brainz locked into eye contact, one of them as utterly bewildered as the child.

“-ain’t that right, jumpy?”

  


_“Jumpy”_ was unable to answer, being completely frozen and all. His face gave a good enough answer to Sans though, looking like he was about to keel over and die right on the spot from shock.

 

The child cocked its head and squinted in slight skepticism at the scene Brainz and Sans were posed in.

“Erruumn… ok cool?"

 

Brainz was still stockstill. Sans was obviously the one running this show, even when being lifted up as he was.

“it helps _lift_ the mood.”

He gave Brainz a wink.

 

The kid smirked a bit, then went right onto a more serious matter.

“Aheh, well um...  did you guys hear those noises just now? That’s why I’m back here.”

 

“noises?”

 

Sans was able to gently persuade Brainz to lowered him and then nudge him to turn around to face the child, the human was as manipulatable as a mannequin in his state. The kid looked to both of them and widened its expression.

 

“Well like yeah! I was just looking to see if Undyne found the bad guy yet and I heard these noises coming from behind.They were like _-BANG! BANG! BANG!- -BOOM!- -BANG!-_

Like I could hear them from really far away, they must’ve been _really_ loud! Tell me that you guys heard those! I mean I thought Undyne was back here or something!”

 

Brainz twitched finally, the realization was the first of thought to gain access to him. A shallow gasp came up and then a wretched grip from stress took his insides over. Sans decided to get a reaction, and he stared right at the weapon lying on the ground.

 

“really loud bangs hmm? from back here… hmmm-”

 

Right up to Brainz’s face.

“i dunno, what do _you_ think jumpy? you hear anything like that?”

 

He had to have known the state of turmoil Brainz was in when he put him in on the spot when he did. Sans stared right into his soul, waiting for an answer. Brainz himself didn’t make any noise… at least any noise that anyone but him heard.

 

_What game is he playing?! He heard those gunshots and he knows damn well what made them, YOU! Don’t fall for it! Don’t let him manipulate you! It’s just one stupid kid! It doesn’t matter what they think of you! That smiling heap of garbage WANTS you to play along, DON’T DO IT._

 

The hysteria continued in his head until the thought of standing there for a prolonged amount of time seemed to be worse than actually _doing_ something, wise or not. He was just as clueless as ever, not knowing what Sans was trying to do, or why. With another bout of defiance and risk, Brainz spoke up to the inverse of what his inner psyche wanted.

 

In the fastest and most dramatic change in tone _ever,_ he completely discarded the fed up and exhausted man that threatened Sans, for that friendly fellow upholding conversation with them. Lest the child know what was _actually_ occurring right now.

 

“No… I didn’t hear anything like that-”

  
He swallowed and winced at what he was about to say. He could just hear the slight quiver to his facade, it was the best he could do, sounding unbothered when he was quite absolutely the opposite.

 

“- _Sans_ .”   
He drew that word out, it really strained him to say it.

 

Sans managed to squint, focusing his gaze into a sharp penetrating stare. He repeated himself with more emphasis, he _knew_ it was a lie, and wanted Brainz to be sure of what he was doing too.

 

“you sure? you didn’t hear or see anything out of the ordinary? no red flags… _smoking guns?”_

 

Brainz felt something beyond icy cold seeping up to his neck, it made him shiver. That look he was getting could’ve been turning him to stone for all he knew, that assumptive, judgmental gaze.

“No… nothing.”

 

He immediately averted his look to the child to free himself of the dread. He felt the bile trying to climb his throat seeing the disappointment and confusion crossing the child’s face. Something about being expected to blatantly lie to the only “friend” he had and actually doing it didn’t sit well within him.

 

But the disappointment in the child was short lived, and Brainz was able to swallow the guilt when the face lightened up.

 

“Oh, ok then… that’s kinda weird then, I wonder what I was hearing or something then...

Well um, what happened back there by the way? I thought you were behind me the whole time! I didn’t realize you weren’t there until I stopped when I thought I heard something. I didn’t think you’d be _this_ far back.”

 

The fact that it actually accepted the lie without even questioning it, even going to doubt itself made Brainz feel worse. Typically not the right response to seeing a lie you told work so well.

 

“Umm, well I didn’t get to tell ya before you went off that I’m uh, I really can’t run that much-”

 

_You mean you can’t run that much ANYMORE, because you sprained your ankle, klutz, which is what you SHOULD or SHOULD’VE done instead of getting yourself into this mess. That smiling monster has you right where he wants, idiot._

 

Part of him was still spiteful at himself for falling into this situation, and the other part of him was still too scared to look back at Sans.

 

“- I didn’t think I’d be able to keep up with ya from the get go and you were gone before I even said so.”

 

The monster shrank back a bit, slightly humbled.

“Oh man.. I’m sorry dude. I shoulda waited before going off like that. I’m sorry.”

  


Brainz approached it looking quite humbled himself, tossing away the mess of anxiety to fix this.

 

“Bud, it’s alright. _It’s alright._ You’re just excited right? This is an…. _Exciting_ time, isn’t it Sans?”

 

He wanted to try flipping the script on Sans in the company of his friend, returning the _pleasure,_ or just getting him to stop that god awful look.

 

“oh yeah, you got that right. which reminds me to give you both a warning from the captain herself since you’re both here now. she tells me that the human here is something else, a real nutjob-”

Brainz regretted his words and his peek to him before Sans even gave him that look again, he regretted it further when he actually saw it, still judging him without mercy.

 

“oh yeah, this one’s a real handful. enough that she even told me to tell you not to wander out here without someone trusted, it’s _dangerous_.”

 

_Who was that for? He’s looking right at you, but he’s talking to that kid! See? This is the kind of shit you knew would happen with this guy. Why didn’t you just kill him when you had him right there? Why? You’re about ready to piss yourself in front of them!_

 

Brainz subtly shook his head to quell the spite. He continued to play along for the sake of the child, knowing exactly who the subject of this warning was.

 

“The captain?-She came to you?”

 

“yhep, you both just missed her actually.”

 

The response from Brainz and the child were unanimous,

“ _What?!”_

 

“oh yeah, and get this. she came to me just after she says she ran into this creep. it looked like she got roughed her up some from the _bullets_ in her armor.”

 

Brainz swallowed again, the child spoke up for both of them.

“Bullets? But I thought that humans couldn’t send bullets because they didn’t have the magic to do so, isn’t that right?”

 

Brainz’s face said it all, his thoughts which dared not to go to his mouth, transcribed for him. “Bullets aren’t magic! How do they think _guns_ work? Murderous magic? And does that mean that there are guns down here? What the fuck am I sitting in the middle of?!”

 

He was actually more concerned with how or when this "conversation" occurred. Did he not just literally send this monster into the water in a brief firefight? How could it have gotten over here? Or was Sans just pulling his leg or being the creepy bastard he always was with appearing anywhere.

 

His had to use his sleeve as a towel for the sweat profusely running off of his face.

 

Sans shrugged. Mind, that he’d retained the same tone of apathy for this entire conversation.

 

“i know right? so that’s where she tells me _sans, there’s something much more to this one!_ she was all, _i looked right at it, but i couldn’t believe my eye, it looked like a regular human and it even stared at me with a stupid face while reading a book! the nerve of them!-”_

 

Sans speaking in falsetto confirmed to Brainz that the thing he just fought was indeed a woman. And from the copied emotion of what he was saying, Brainz had really pissed her off.

 

“-so i looked at her and said ‘whattaya mean?’ and she punched the wall right here-”

There was a huge crack in the wall and a perfect indent of a fist in the center of it, somehow Brainz didn’t notice that until now…

 

“- and goes. _sans! i’m telling you that you can’t trust your senses on this one! this one is much more dangerous than anything else that i’ve seen. they almost had me fooled from their look and then the next thing i knew, i was at the bottom of the channel!”_

 

That tone of voice again, it almost suggested that Brainz had intimidated it too, the fact it was confirmed to still be alive wasn’t too good to hear though, but at least he was able to be certain about it.

 

Sans finished the message.

““- _make sure you don’t let anyone go through here without a gaurdian. we can’t risk it, i know the human is going to be heading to hotlands, so they’ll run into me eventually and when they do.”_

i was about to ask her why she was carrying that boulder with her, but then she crushed it with her hands and stamped on all of the pieces and then threw all of them into the water.”

  


“Oh...”

That’s all Brainz had to say about that, considering he actually believed what Sans had just told him.

_Wait! Did you not just have this prick up against a wall about to kill him? And now you’re listening to him?! You HAVE lost it! He’s finally gotten to you. Or is this just all for show, for that stupid kid? Because you KNOW that that skeleton knows when he’s got your number or not._

 

“ _Awwwwww_ what?!-”

The long whine coming from the child grabbed hold of the conversation.

 

“-but I just came from there and I didn’t even see the human! I didn’t even get to see Undyne yet and-”

  


Sans cooly shrugged, sounded just a pinch condescending and patronizing.

“sorry bud, boss’s orders, gotta keep everyone safe.”

 

_Oh fuck, NOW what’re you going to do? Do you still give enough of a half shit for this kid you just met that you’re going to play along? You HAVE to go that way, you CAN’T go back. Stop listening to this smiley trashbag and listen to yourself! You fucking moron!_

 

Sans made a noise that Brainz could never fathom possible to come from him, an exclamation as if something was surprising.

 

“wait a sec, i got it. i wasn’t supposed to let anyone through here without someone we could trust. why don’t you two stick together.”

 

“ **_Really_ **?”

“Really?”

 

The first reaction belonged to Brainz, it was in far less belief and joy than the second one.

 

“-yeah. you can go with jumpy here, both of you are headin the same way anyways and _i_ trust jumpy.”

 

 **“** **_Really?”_ **

_BULLSHIT!!!_

 

“Awww sweet! Thank you _so_ much, Sans!-”

It turned to Brainz and hopped.

“-cmon jumpy! You heard him! We gotta run into her eventually!”

 

Hearing someone else call him that made him scowl further.

 

Sans chuckled smugly.

“just a sec there bud. jumpy will be right with ya, just hang tight up ahead a bit. me and jumps got one more matter to discuss.”

 

The kid stood up proudly and glowed before skipping ahead some.

“Okay!”

 

“be safe now.”

 

When the child allowed the conversation to come down from its high, Brainz didn’t even turn to Sans, he just bent over to pick up his weapon and wiped some of the dead boulder off of it.

 

“ _Why-”_

He was grim and direct, wasting as little time as he had now.

“-Why did you just do that.”

 

He almost expected to turn back to the telescope to find it without an owner, but Sans was still there, as smug as ever.

“why? well i wouldn’t have a job if i didn’t, and i still need something to fall back to if my telescope business doesn’t take off.”

 

Brainz forced the most aggressive sigh he could sound, sputtering with fragments of a snicker as it came out. His emotions turned off.

 

“You’re doing this so I have to behave now, aren’t you? You think I’ll soften up on you because you did that, but really you did it for your own sake. You think they really matter to me, that I’ll let this garbage kick me to the ground and stomp on me like a piece of shit, just because I’m being watched by an impressionable child?”

 

Again… he didn’t expect an answer, but what he got wasn’t much better than nothing at all, it was probably worse.

 

“ like i said:i’m just doing my job. i gotta keep everyone safe from the psychopath who's attacking monsters down here, and speaking of jobs: you oughta be on your way now. you got a kid to chaperone, **you psychopath.”**

 

It never failed to make Brainz jolt in his place, no matter how detached from himself he was, and when he had to give into the impulse to look for that gaze?

 

Sans was gone.

 

“Fucking shit… how does he do that?”

 

Brainz looked around and found himself utterly alone except for the yellow speck up ahead jumping impatiently for him… and the price gouged telescope.

 

He took a quicker look around, just to be sure no one was watching: none.

“Fifty thousand dollars a peek?”

 

He took Sans up on the belated offer and lent his red eye to the eyepiece, the other one would’ve hurt to put anything against it.

 

Red, that was just about it, literally nothing else. Brainz scoffed _amused._

“You little rotten bastard…

This doesn’t surprise me one bit.”

 

 


	8. Unfamiliar Recollection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deja-Vu...  
> You've been here before, why else would you feel that way?  
> Deny it all you want, but no matter what you do:  
> You will *always* have that familiar feeling.
> 
> Why bother?  
> How long can you keep lying to them?  
> To yourself?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for any weirdness if you are following this story regarding this chapter being placed and dropped seven times or so, turns out some special characters will cause the chapter to cut off prematurely.

 

“Alright… let’s do this.”

Brainz had given himself a good couple of deep breaths before he gathered the promissory notes he passed as courage. He’d just fought his way out of a bad situation (his foot would remind him of that for the foreseeable future) and now, he was beginning the ascent to a new one. He looked at the child just barely managing to appear patient and began to approach it. His head swayed slightly with the force of conflicting thoughts: no good was going to come from this.

 

“Ready to go?”

A fraudulent grin suggested he was easy about this, a friendly guy with his blood smeared clothes and open carried firearm. The friendliest looking guy straight out of a riot you’d ever get to meet.

 

The child stifled a snicker (presumably from excitement) and nodded jubilantly and they were off… for all of six seconds at the most when Brainz realized he had no idea where he’d be leading this kid. Getting lost would probably look suspicious, as if he didn’t already look dubious to everyone else.

 

“What’s up?”

A curious gaze looked up at him as they stood before another inconvenient gap in solid land, much too horizontally inconvenient to jump it. Although… the water below was a touch different than the previous rooms. It went from a soulless icy black void to an absurdly radiant teal glow. Somehow it was even _less_ tempting to swim in it now than ever before.

Circumstances began to reverberate, just feeling those eyes digging into him was enough to force a sense of dreadful urgency lest he blow his cover. He never even fathomed the variables and factors of the lie he was depending on until now. All of the hurried thoughts would be his and his alone, not shared with his companion.

 

“Ok… am I to assume that we’re supposed to swim through this? This kid would probably think so… or is it that _other_ path into this? Why does the water look like electrified plasma? It’s practically burning into my eyes! And what's with the ashy crap coming out of it? What is that? This _can’t_ even be water!

(...)

Fuck! I don’t even know if this is the right way to go! What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do? What am I… going to do?

That laughing asshole set me up! That little motherfucker! He _knew_ this would happen and I totally bought it!   _GOD_ I _am_ a fucking moron!”

 

“Err yo? Are you ok?”

Brainz 86’d his thoughts and snapped back to the kid for reflexive self preservation, he flipped his demeanor. His words would come out _before_ he’d ponder them, a horrendously risky tactic but it was needed on the spot.

 

“Huh? Oh! Yeah!

I’m fine, yeah. I was just thinking um… uh Like if… what would be the best way to go?-”

 

He stretched and held out the vowel and looked down to a skeptical brow raise, a bit a sweat began to perspire on him.

 

“- _gooooo…_ to get to her! Yes!

If we wanna find her, I was just thinking which way do you think we’d find her? We want to find her right?”

 

He begged internally for that to work at first, then began to swear at himself once he thought of how moronic it probably sounded and how much he just screwed himself. But perhaps he was wrong to self reprimand, because he managed to get rid of that skeptical look.

 

“Ooh yeaah… I didn’t think of that, good idea! Hmmmmm…”

It thought out loud with an open minded rhetorical question.

“What _would_ be the best waayyy… huhmmm…”

 

A sliver of brief hope shot into Brainz’s head, he threw standard caution into the wind and immediately pressed the idea he had.

“Yeahh, that’s what I was stopping over… I mean she was just with Sansy boy back there-”

 

_Ugh… you can’t BELIEVE you just said that_

“- that human too… I’m thinking they could be anywhere y’know?”

He looked at at the kid wondering if that worked, lips clenched tightly and

teeth grinding.

 

“Ohh man.. Yeah.. you’re right, hmmm…”

 

Success! Brainz felt a shred of confidence begin to form, he went for the winning shot: the move to get him out of this.

“So, _actually…_ since this is pretty much your rap you got here, I’m just tagging along with ya. I’m thinking, why don’t you lead the way? You got Undyne down a lot more than I do it seems… in fact, why even look for _her?_ If we go where we don’t think she is, we’d cover some more ground and maybe run into the human.”

 

That face… he genuinely didn’t expect to see it. The way their eyes seemed to light up like stars, the dropped jaw. He even heard the long gasp emerging from it. It felt really surreal that the reason this was happening was because of him. That he actually made someone happy… albeit on a filthy lie. But still… it was a weird feeling.

 

The child held that near dumbfounded expression for so long that Brainz actually felt the strain on his face muscles lighten a bit, because it made him actually smile. The kid finally managed to close its jaw, but began running it again: starstruck almost.

 

“Wha-wa? R-really?”

 

Brainz nodded with that positive expression. He chuckled softly.

“Yeah… why not? I’ll still be right with you, won't let anything happen: don’t gotta tell Sans, and if they ask me later: I’ll tell em It was MY idea. Think about it: we can do both. Me and you find this guy and _then_ we bring em to her, whattaya think?”

 

The kid cheered, jumping gleefully.

“Awwwh that’s Super sweet! Let's go then! We should try _this_ way then.”

 

It spun around and walked away from the gap, much to Brainz’s relief. He called out though, seeing how far gone it already was.

“Hold up a sec! Remember, I’m not so fast on my feet!”

 

It heard him this time, and held its place to let Brainz catch up at his staggered pace.

“Aheh.. sorry.”

 

“You’re good bud, I’ll make sure to tell ya if we’re goin a bit too fast or I need a break, aight?”

 

A confirming nod quelled some of his anxiety, and the child lead the way through a marshland of the dangerous looking liquid.

 

No words were exchanged as Brainz followed the kid across numerous bridges and even more so numerous choices of path, it didn’t bother him one bit. Probably because he was too busy in thought to consider it. Too busy being beyond conflicted for how to take this in.

 

_So, you’re actually going through with this hm? Good! Good. That’s just perfect. Actually giving your trust to someone mm hmm. The someone who made your whole situation far worse, y’know the same one you failed at killing?_

The instinctive part of him wanted to start first, probably fed up with how Brainz ignored it so much just minutes ago.

 

_Aaand you’re letting a small *gullible* mind you…  child dictate where you go, which could be  inherently on course right into that big piece of shit… Undyne. All while you’re on a search for, yourself?_

 

Brainz could see mimicry flowers in his peripheral vision, he wanted to approach them but the child had no interest in stopping and in order to stay under the radar: So would Brainz.

 

_You really ARE a moron, can’t make up your damn mind it seems. You’ll see how long you’re gonna follow this before you end up getting your dumb ass killed, it’ll be all your fault by then._

 

He wouldn’t be permitted to openly challenge himself, being in company of someone and all. But he really wasn’t tempted to anyway, the positives were keeping him from complaining and arguing vocally. He _wasn’t_ lost, and he _wasn’t_ by himself… it should’ve been enough to appease himself.

 

_Yhep, just keep ignoring your own instincts, the ones that kept you alive all these years. Don’t even acknowledge them or anything, you fucking moron._

 

Brainz rolled his eyes and grunted subtly, giving disdain to himself giving him disdain, he stopped berating himself for the time being.

 

There really wasn’t a viable reason to take this in so pessimistically, _this_ particular situation and really: the entire scenario he was trudging through. It was just going to waste his time and energy which he didn’t have much of to begin with. Besides, having to be paired with this kid wasn’t _so_ bad… It was actually an advantage if he desired to look at it like that.

 

Firstly, it had a destination in mind instead of simply “away from here” so they weren’t wandering without direction. Second, Brainz had the potential of being viewed anything other than _guilty,_ by association with this innocent thing.

 

The last of practical uses for the kid that came to him, and rightfully last at that. Made him lose his grin at the idea of it, but it was still on the table and Brainz had to recognize it just in case. If or _when_ he’d find himself fighting “Undyne” or whoever else, this child was a bargaining chip for desperation: A hostage come an emergency. Brainz’s shotgun stirred nervously in his hand, partially concealing it behind his back.

 

But for now … just being able to talk was something. Engaging in prolonged conversation with someone other than himself was an unforeseen comfort he didn’t know he’d appreciate, but here it was. He’d never take that for granted.

 

“This way.”

The child glanced behind to assure that Brainz was still there. They were about to leave the glowing marsh behind, entering a new chamber. Brainz spied the sign taking up a small pocket besides the path, he didn’t have the luxury of stopping to read it, but he quickly peaked with his red eye as he passed it on pace with the child.

 

_The power to take their SOULS, this is what the-_

He didn’t get the rest of it, nor did he get the time to ponder to himself the meaning of the line. The child beckoned him to move ahead when he slowed down some.

 

“Hold up a sec, lemme see if they’re awake.”

 

They had stopped walking in the middle of a ginormous chamber completely taken by _normal_ looking water spare a narrow pathway down the middle. Brainz began to return to his normal tensity.

 

“Who?”

He looked around, all that water made him increasingly nervous, considering his latest problem could have possibly been under it.

 

“What? Have you never been here before or something? Oh man, you never seen them? You _gotta_ meet my friend then!”

 

“I.. do?

 _N-no_ I don’t…”

The feeble noise he made wasn’t loud enough to be heard by the child, they began stomping on the ground.

 

“Hey! Onionsan! Are you sleeping down there?!”

It called out to the sea, the large room carried their voice back to them a couple of times.

 

_Onionsan?_

He squinted and thought to himself.

“Well… it’s not Undyne, so there’s that… but still, why do they have to bring someone _else_ into this? What if they can tell from the get-go? Then I’m fucked!”

 

The child called out an additional time, and when the echos ceased: a new noise began to emerge. Suddenly, the water began to stir and ripple. The area of disturbance kept expanding, larger and larger, Brainz instinctively stepped backwards and almost fell into the other pool of water behind him.

 

The sound of emerging water grew to an equally grand volume with the massive figure that began to break from the surface. Brainz shot a desperate look at the child for help, they seemed utterly content at the sight before them.

 

As the enormous creature settled above the water, Brainz’s instincts screamed at him to make a break for it, he didn’t. He didn’t even move, he _couldn’t_. Partly from the incredible amount of willpower he needed to maintain his ruse and more so being petrified from what he was witnessing.

 

“ _HOLY SHIT!_ Giant fucking sea spider!”

That wasn’t out loud of course, his lips were frozen as the rest of him began to lock up in place.

 

The thing took a good look at Brainz, then to the child standing beside him, it smiled at them with joyful exuberance. Then it spoke, its voice was surprisingly soft and juvenile, similar to the one standing before it, unexpected given how large the damned thing was.

 

“Hey! You’re back here… again! Heya!”

 

The child shared the light emotion.

“Hi Onionsan! We were just on our way through Waterfall, on our way to see Undyne maybe.”

 

The giant tentacle monster cooed with curiosity.

“ _Ooooooh!_ And who’s your new friend here? I don’t think I’ve seen a face like yours before!”

 

Those huge eyes focused right onto Brainz, who was almost catatonic. His mind was utterly white noise, and his body being unable to receive any thoughts: stood dormant in the last pose it was in. His mouth let out prolonged expressions of utter awe and shock with his breaths.

“ _Haaaaaaaaa…._

_Haaaaaaaaa._

_Aaaaaaaah… Uuuuuuhhh…_

_Aaaaauoooohh…”_

“I’m sorry? I can’t quite hear you there buddy.”

The large creature parked its head even closer to Brainz with a tentacle up to it’s *ear*? Which made the feeble loss of action from the human worsen.

 

“This is Jumpy! I just met him back in Snowdin! Sans said we could look for the human if we stuck together.”

 

Never… never had Brainz felt any joy come up from that word nor hearing exaggerated information on himself, but seeing that massive monster back off from him with a noise of agreement: he felt a newfound sublime relief from being saved by that name. If this thing was skeptical of him, it sure wasn’t showing it.

 

“Why it’s nice to meet you, Jumpy! I’m Onionsan, y’hear? Is this your first time visiting waterfall huh! Or just my stretch of it huh! You love it huh! _I_ do… even though I have to sit down most of the time… and how my friends kinda left me for the aquarium and stuff… but hey, I know you’ll love it here huh! So then you’ll come back!”

 

It forced out the least convincing laugh that Brainz had ever heard from anyone other than himself, only managing to sound increasingly awkward when it saw the lack of response from Brainz.

 

“A heh… heh.. Hey! So, did you say you two were looking for a human?”

 

The child nodded proudly and gestured with its head to Brainz.

“Yhep! You got it yo! Undyne ran into them already and they actually got away! Crazy right? So Sans told me and Jumpy that we could go and help her look for them! So we’re looking around waterfall for them. So then we can maybe catch them and bring them to Undyne or even Mr Dreemurr!”

 

The tentacle monster glanced at Brainz one more time, and lit up again to match the child’s animation.

“Oh Wwoww! That’s great huh! You two and Undyne fixing _everything?_ You’re gonna be heros!”

 

That word made Brainz twitch, his nerves were forcing a reboot. He was able to feel his hand again, how it hid under his sweater, index finger dancing erratically around the safety pin of his grenade.

 

“I _knoww!_ This is gonna be _soooo_ awesome! And Umm.

 _Oh_ man!-”

It looked to the ‘Brainz statue’, and then back to the squid.

“- We gotta get going! Undyne and Mr Dreemurr _need_ us! Cmon! Bye Onionsan!

Cmon!”

 

The child nudged Brainz to start walking again with their head, they forgot again to keep the pace plodding for Brainz. That didn’t matter here though, because as soon as Brainz started to think again, he was more than eager to run with the child: his pain receptors were still warming up. The squid monster followed them to the brink of the water and called out behind.

“Good luck you two! I’ll see you around later!

Bye- _eeeeeeeee…”_

* * *

 

“Oh gosh, I forgot again!”

The kid skidded to a halt, turning around promptly to see Brainz do the same.

“Oh man, I’m sorry, you didn’t _have_ to run dude!”

 

Brainz did not heed their explanation, he doubled over: supporting his upper body with his bent knees, loudly wheezing. The sight of him seemed to make the kid feel worse about themselves when Brainz quite obviously shuddered, practically convulsing.

“-aww geeez man… I’m _really_ sorry!, are you OK? I didn’t mean to-”

 

A hand reached out briskly to interject the sorry feeling.

“No-”

He was out of breath, only further giving into the assumption that this child had screwed up terribly by making him run all of ten yards. This wasn’t the case however, and Brainz wouldn’t be exaggerating when he regained enough integrity to give his rebuttal, interlaced with labored gasps.

“- You didn’t… do nothing wrong… I’m _fine_ …. It is just… just me.”

 

He managed to look up from himself to see unsatisfactory results, the child’s face sold the result that they weren’t so inclined to believe what he said, still feeling quite low for themselves. That look made Brainz feel equally low, albeit while still recovering from shock.

 

“This happens… from time to time… I’m really not good meeting new… _others.”_

 

It was vague and left a lot to be desired, but it really wasn’t a fabrication. Just light on details, meeting new people, derived from the internal screaming from standing before a mammoth sized tentacle monster.

Brainz pushed out one final shiver throughout his entire being. He stood back up, trying to emulate that easy going outlook he had to uphold: given… it was just slightly more difficult to do so now with the image of a two story tall beast still submerged in his brain.

 

“Really? But… like… why though?-”

They ceased the self discipline which was good, but now it was concerned curiosity: _that_ was a bad thing because Brainz would _have_ to give a direct answer… he would… if the kid didn’t keep talking, sounding subtly bewildered and gradually more dour.

 

“- is that why you were behind the library back in Snowdin? Why you wanted to be all alone?”

Their eyes widened and began to hint at culpability, they turned their focus back onto themselves in a detrimental manner.

 

“Did _I_ make you scared when I came to you? Did _I_ hurt you dude?  Is this bothering you _now?_ If I did, I really didn’t know! I didn’t mean to and I-I don’t want you to-”

 

They were starting to spiral again in self blame, Brainz desired to hear no more of this, it was going to affect him more than that wretched thing just in the room behind him.

 

“ **Stop** , please. Don’t do that to yourself, you _will_ bother me if you keep bagging on yourself like that-”

 

He got them to stop, also setting himself up in the process, getting gazed at by those big eyes.

 

“- Like I said, I’m **_fine…_ ** and I was fine when we met back there. Yes, you did get me worried at first, but I got over it. I did the same here, I just needed a minute to… think it in my head. It happened so quickly, I wasn’t expecting it and I really don’t take so good to surprises. But I like your company, I really do.”

 

This was more or less, true. He had subliminally given this poor child his take on the worst aspect of this place that he was trapped in, the utter impossibility to predict _anything._ That horrid vulnerable feeling of being unsure and uninsured.

 

The child’s expression didn’t mend any and Brainz really didn’t wish to bear that implosive feeling gripping at him any longer.

 

“But hey, I’m fine now. See? I’m all good, back to normal!-”

His lips forced themselves to raise along with his arms out to his sides.

 

“-As much as it was nice meeting… um-”

He couldn’t recall the damned name, the memory of the huge monster was already redacted from his mind, the only way he could avoid breaking out in stress.

 

“- _them._ But don’t we gotta get going? Undyne needs us yeah?”

 

At first, he was met with an off kilter gaze, but eventually the kid nodded: some of their charisma withdrawn.

“Yeah…”

 

Brainz gave them a more friendly and animated nod.

“Alrighty then… where to?”

He looked around the room finally, two paths to take: one marked by a sign. Water ran freely from the ceiling of all places in a couple of spots. There was no comment on that.

 

“Wait… Have you actually _been_ here before? I don’t want to be rude or anything, but it’s almost like you don’t know where to go. I know you said you were from the capital and all, and you’re all shy. So do you not come out much? Is that why you wanted me to lead the whole time or something?”

 

It made Brainz lose his grip on his face, dropping back to the perpetual state of his pensive existence, _again_ as soon as the kid saw the frown, they _immediately_ began to backpedal.

 

“Oh no man! I didn’t mean anything like that, I wasn’t saying anything about you and I-”

 

“Shhh.. Dude… stop.”

Brainz shushed them quite stern fully.

 

“Why are you taking everything you say to me, back? Like I’m going hurt you or something just because you asked a question. Do I really look like I want to hurt you?”

 

Well, he obviously knew he _did_ look like that kind of someone, but not to this child. To anyone else, Brainz was so certain that his “appearance” quite literally and in past terms: would instantly brand him as such a cruel person. But not to his only unbiased friend, he didn’t want his mere looks and allegations to speak for him.

 

“- If I do… then I guess I really need to change my looks or my behavior if I’m giving you those kind of thoughts. Listen bud-”

 

It hurt him to bend down, putting more pressure on his bummed ankle, but he lowered his height to match with the kid, and gave one his arms to where a shoulder should’ve been, the intentions were really the important part.

 

“- Just because something you said isn’t gonna agree with someone, it doesn’t mean you have to bail on it to avoid hurting their feelings. If anything, throwing yourself away like that is like, lying… it’ll end up doing exactly what you’re trying to prevent right now. Which is to hurt my feelings right?  I should know, because I’ve done it before and I’ve seen how much more it hurts others…”

 

Their eyes met with each other, Brainz looked right into the child: not a direct stare or a apathetic gaze… but a look of hinted compassion. Even his bad eye… he could feel the way his eyelids and face contorted around it, a look that as much serious as it was… gentle.

 

“- when you pretend everything is OK or you just hold yourself in like that... you don’t hide or get rid of the problem...all you’re doing is seeing how far you can huck your problem down the path… so now while you’re feeling alright because it’s not with you anymore: you have to deal with knowing that you’re going to see it again but now you won’t know _where_ or _when_ you’ll run into it again.

But now as you’re letting it sit there waiting for you and anyone else, it’s just growing bigger and _bigger._ So much that by the time it finally comes to you again: it’s gotten so out of control that you can’t even recognize it anymore… something so silly now became this big scary thing that you just can’t… even _think_ of how to fix now-”

 

He began to feel weight on his eyes and his stomach as he heard himself… he was becoming less and less sure that this lesson was directed for this kid, and more that it was a voice of self preservation trying to talk some sense into _him._ The irony in this was… he was growing his already sizable lie to them by explaining the very thing he was doing. Hypocrisy added into the mix… now this was becoming quite volatile and all Brainz was doing was letting it grow while he fearfully loaned it more and more time.

 

He swallowed, feeling the bile-like self hatred receding into him, still affixed onto this child.

 

“- That… you’ll be… just.. Never wanting to get it over with. That it’s _so_ big that you’re just not ready… you’re _scared…_ afraid of what’s going to happen to you. What’s going to happen to your friends… and _family._ And you only feel worse the more you blame yourself for not just letting it let out on it’s own… dealing with it with help, instead of inflating it yourself with all your lies and dishonesty and-”

 

Brainz sighed dolefully, breaking his gaze for just a moment to look down and shake his head disapprovingly… at himself. He immediately looked right back up at the child though… remembering where he deviated from. He tried to force the implied misery out of his voice as he tuned it.

 

“- Just... um. Where I’m going with this is: that you shouldn’t go back on your words or make up ones that aren’t truly yours… just because you don’t want to upset someone: being honest and telling the truth will always be the right thing in the end, and no matter how much you can be afraid of how they’ll react to you. They’ll be happy… happy that you stayed true to yourself and them… that you **_*trusted*_ ** them enough to handle what you had to say.

 

And trust me when I say: what you said about me? Being lost and all? You are completely right. Every last word of it, I have never been here before: I barely leave far from my house, so I really had no idea where I was going. When Sans suggested we pair up, I was relieved in more ways than I can count. Selfishly, I was glad that no one would have to know what a goof I was. I should’ve been happy that you were safe, or that I’d be able to keep you safe… from that human.

And isn’t this _just_ what I was talkin about? I made a little fib by not bein honest and givin you and Sans the whole story, and as we kept goin: I was getting too scared to admit the real thing… because I didn’t want to let you down or make me look like a fool… funny right?”

 

Brainz snickered from the absurdity of it all, hoping his “friend” would follow suit, but they didn’t. They stayed at the somberness Brainz had just tried to discard, staring into him with the same face he had given them… only more open and wistful.

 

“ Dude… It’s OK… I… guess we both did something like that… but wow man. I didn’t think you would be like me, like that. I thought it was just me… and how everyone keeps looking down at me like I’m still a baby, and I really try to show them I’m not, that I can be just like them. Not making mistakes and being… kind of like _you_ actually.

.

I was so excited when you asked me to lead where we were going, and then how we can look for the human too… but was all that just because you didn’t want anyone to know that you could get lost? Like you didn’t actually mean it?”

There was a foreboding sadness looming in their eyes, it looked like the potential realization of the scenario would hurt. Brainz tried urgently to circumvent bruising their feelings.

 

“No-no-no-no-no! Not at all! Bud, I swear to you that, _that_ isn’t what I wanted to do. No no no. I _really_ did mean everything I said back there, I wouldn’t treat you like that, no matter how selfish I was…”

 

He knew that this kid didn’t _have_ to believe him… and that any excuse he could conjure would be a crapshoot. That is… until he realized exactly what he had done. He completely changed his tone.

 

“ _Ooooh…_ I know what you’re feeling right now I think… Yeah… yep yep yep I get it now… you saw that I took my one look at you, and decided to treat you from it.”

 

They spoke up, almost in awe from the words.

“Yeah… yeah!... _Yeah!_ That’s exactly it. You _did_ do that, didn’t you.”

 

They pouted, staring at him judgmentally. Brainz nodded respectfully and sighed.

“I did… and I’m sorry… I didn’t give you a fair chance… and that’s not cool. I just decided you were a kid and that’s how I treated you…  And I’m guessing you’re frustrated with me just like everyone else who does this… but you…. You just… agree with them: with _me_ , because no matter what you say or how wrong we are… we won’t give you a **_chance_ ** to say so. Is that what I did?”

 

The yellow monster eased on the accusative glare, nodding in a form of subtle surprise.

“Yeah… that’s…

How do you know this yo? You’re like the first… the _ONLY_ grown up who said that to me! Why are _you_ so different than them? I thought _ALL_ grownups would do that.”

 

Brainz broke into laughter, it wasn’t anything out of spite or fabricated from irony, he just couldn’t help himself. The ridiculous subliminal meaning under how _different_ he was… he _couldn’t_ even tell this monster how truly absurd it was.

 

“Grown up? I don’t think there’s such a thing as growing up! You just get bigger… that’s about it. And everyone who tries to be truly-”

He made air quotes and threw his voice

“- _*Mature*-”_

Back to normal.

“- Is just doing what you and I were doing… keeping stuff to ourselves and looking how we’re-”

He did it again.

“- _*Supposed to look*-”_

He could finally see that exuberant glow coming back into the child’s eyes. It made him feel better too.

“-Honestly, I think if growing up was actually a real thing. It would be when you are yourself all the time, never changing or lying to yourself. But umm about you, I swear to you that there was none of that looking down at you stuff. I wouldn’t do it to others when I still have it done to me.”

 

He put out his disposition and was prepared to answer anything about it, or so he thought until the only question that would arise from it did.

 

“Oh ok, thank you…. So then… do you think you’re a grown up then?”

 

He stuttered from it, surprised because the question was hidden in plain sight. Something he wouldn’t be able to pad out with words, the child wanted a yes or a no, and Brainz would be forced to assume… an explanation afterwards.

 

But still… he blurted out the absolute first thing that came to his mind.

“No.”

 

He was answered back before he could even begin to stress over it.

“Oh, right. We just talked about what it meant, right… I gotcha now.”

 

They shared a moment of silent clarity with each other, giving glances to each other and still deviating all over the chamber.

 

“Thanks, Jumpy… you’re like the only monster who’s _this_ honest with me… who doesn’t talk down at me… I guess it’s cause you actually know what it is.”

 

Brainz scoffed, he was immediately challenged for it, his words were already backfiring, the kid sounded a touch agitated.

“What?”

“Oh no, what you said is just fine, I appreciate it… a lot, but um… I gotta clear this… uhmmm-”

 

There was no way in hell he was going to _actually_ clear what was so wrong with that statement, so he thought of the most marginal quirk of it instead.

“-my name’s not Jumpy.”

 

Surprise filled the kid’s face.

“It’s not? But that’s what Sans was calling you by, and you didn’t say anything when I introduced to-”

 

Brainz interrupted them, not out of poor manners. He was just slightly more than eager to stop hearing that damned word being thrown at him.

 

“Yeah… that’s his little nickname he gave me because it looked funny to him how scared I got when he’d sneak up and jump out at me.”

 

“That’s not funny at all-”

 

Hearing that come out of the kid made Brainz want to start skipping despite his damaged foot: he was almost overcome with relief that _someone_ regardless of what or who they were… agreed with him. That _something_ went his way for once.

“-I like his jokes, but a joke should have everyone laughing. That seems kind of mean if he knows how much it bothers you… _does_ he know that?”

 

He drooped and shook his head slowly, the kid was taken back.

“You didn’t tell him? But why not? He probably doesn’t know how much it bothers you and probably that you find it funny and…

 _Oooh…_ this is one of those honesty things isn’t it? Why you’re not a grown up yet? Are you afraid of hurting his feelings?”

 

Brainz smiled earnestly and nodded.

“You got it.”

 

Unfortunately… this wasn’t exactly truthful. The honest part was how Brainz never gave his direct opinion on Sans’s little game: Just some profane, sarcastic quips. He never actually asked for the encounters to stop, as if that would do anything. But where the truth dithered away was being unbeknownst? _That_ was an outright lie.

 

Brainz knew well… he knew _very_ well, and at this point… after the telescope fiasco. It was _DAMN_ well, that he knew Sans knew the full extent of grief he was causing him. It was most likely his punishment for all his transgressions, he knew he probably deserved it but it didn’t mean he had to like it. And for all he cared: He couldn’t give any less of a damn for Sans’s feelings.

 

“Well… Do you think we can both tell him how you feel? We’d all be better friends if we were honest and open with each other right? Even if it’s something we don’t like to hear, I think he’d understand if you told him what you just told me.”

 

Brainz made himself smile larger, he didn’t mean it one bit, but because he walked himself into this one: he had to get himself out. So he pretended to be thrilled with the idea.

“Really? Do you think so?”

 

The child nodded with an equally large but more genuine smile.

“Yeah man! He of all monsters would _totally_ understand.”

 

Brainz had to pretend his joy was just… _barely containable._

_More like Barely sustainable._

“Oh man… I think that would be great! But um… maybe after we catch the human! We still gotta get going right?”

 

“ _Riiiiiiight!_ Ahh dude, I keep forgetting that! Ugh, I’m such a turd!”

 

Brainz gave them a light tap on their nose, he looked aloof for the motion.

“Hey, Stoppit, no more of that. Besides, if I’ve _lived_ down here and I’m as lost as I am, imagine how lost this human is? I don’t think he’ll be going anywhere anytime soon… not with the only way out being watched.”

 

The kid recovered their optimistic mood after the bop, nodding with that familiar animation from before.

“You’re right! He’ll probably be stuck somewhere, so I guess we don’t have to run and…

Wait, how do you know it’s a dude?”

 

An almost audible “oops.” rang through Brainz, but before the first sweat drop could fall from his face, he made a quick clean up.

“Oh erm, isn’t that what Sans referred to em as? A he? I could swear he was calling em a ‘he’”

It worked, the kid managed to shrug without shoulders.

“Oh uh,I dunno… I think so then… ehn.

So, by the way then, what _is_ your name?”

 

He should’ve been more reluctant to keep giving it out, but to his memory: the only two souls that knew it besides him were Sans and Toriel. He knew Toriel would only take his name to the grave by now, and Sans… as dubious as he was, Brainz couldn’t really wrap his head around the idea of Sans actually _trying_ to convict him: he seemed to have his own agenda of traumatizing Brainz, so letting everyone on his fun didn’t seen likely. He really had nothing begging inhibition on himself.

 

“Name’s Brainz-”

The raised eyebrow, he always expected it whenever he’d share his name.

“- Yep, you spell it just like you say it **_Brain-zzz,_ ** mind the S, give it a Z”  

 

“Cool, yo.”

The kid got a closing nod, half in agreement and half in the mutual idea that they would proceed down the path again with hopefully no more diversions. But to Brainz’s now subtle frustration: the kid went all of three steps down the longer of the paths and stopped, turning their head to the other path marked by the sign Brainz failed to read yet.

“Hey.. um, _Brainz?”_

 

At least they wouldn’t call him jumpy anymore.

“What’s wrong?”

 

Their eyes squirreled around, incapable now, of meeting with Brainz’s, whatever was on their mind now must’ve bothered them to become timid all of the sudden. They gave up trying to make themselves hold eye contact and instead, shyly looked down at their feet, fidgeting into the ground.

 

“I know we’re kind of in a bit of a hurry… but umm-”

They’d continue giving out slightly timorous noises, this was something earnestly desired to be asked, but the kid was having a difficult time getting it out, Brainz sought to remedy it.

“What’s up? What do you need? Is there something else wrong? Don’t be scared to ask, bud-”

  
He’d known what to say, the moment he recognized the shy behavior. He’d been on the other side of this kind of scenario before, reluctant to ask of something from someone: as if needing help was taboo. It wasn’t a pleasant memory… Brainz would stop this from happening if he could help it.

“- It’s fine if we need to stop or something for a minute, we’ve _got_ time… trust me.”

 

Technically it was true, if he didn’t _know_ how much time he had left, then pretending that he actually had some was more along the lines of hopeful thinking. He could pretend for all he cared that the “ _human”_ would never be found, granted he could get out of here alive, that was.

 

He got the kid to start using words again, sounding a little more confident, hearing the words to debunk exactly what they were thinking of.

 

“Soooo… you’ve never been through here before, right?”

 

“Yes? Why?”

 

The little monster finally looked up to him.

“So then… would it be cool…  cool if I showed you something then? It’s OK if it’s not, honest: but I was just wondering if-”

 

For the sake of this poor kid, Brainz nodded before they could spiral into another backpedal, he never considered thinking about what he was agreeing to, a great sin to his normal way of life.

“Sure, I would like that… is it through here?”

 

Both of them turned to the deviated path. From where they were, all that could be seen was a dead end, but when were things actually supposed to be what they seemed down here?”

 

“Yeah man, there’s something in there I want to show you.”

 

Brainz invited them to go right ahead with a hand gesture, and as he followed them into the digression he finally had the opportunity to read the sign offset to the entrance.

 

_The northern room hides a great treasure._

“Oh does it now…”

 

“Oh wow, this’s a really nice... piano?…”

Aside from another weird lettered sign, that was the only object in the room, the “great treasure” besides his striped friend.

 

He could’ve been wrong about the piano being the “treasure” because he got a confused look from the kid.

“What? Oh… I guess it is a nice piano.”

 

Brainz inquired about it, just to be sure.

“This is the ‘great treasure’ you wanted to show me?”  
It was actually more difficult not to sound disappointed, spending his time to observe… just an unimpressive looking piano, but it had to have meant more to the kid than it did to him. So Brainz wanted to respect them.

 

“Treasure? What do you mean, yo?”

 

Brainz felt redundancy from even bringing it up now, but now he had to deal with it.

“The sign outside? It said there was a treasure in here?”

 

A doubt hit him in his head… even though he couldn’t have been more certain of what the signs read with experience: he had never actually seen anyone else read them yet, and with that: an old theory denying their legitimacy would begin to cloud his thoughts again, dragging him backwards in thinking.

 

“A great treasure.. Uhm-”

 

As they pondered out loud, Brainz desperately began to piece together a fierce “take-back” for his words.

 

“-Oh! _That_ sign, right… I forgot that’s what it said. Yeah yeah… but um no, that’s not what I wanted to show you.”

 

Now, he was reversing on his reversal, no need to doubt his sanity: because the signs were _confirmed_ to match with what he saw. The fact he still, could read them: was something unexplainable. But that was old news at this point, having a relapse into his self doubts would’ve been far worse and admittedly counterintuitive.

 

The child continued, overlooking Brainz’s interruption and making it completely gratuitous.

“So, you see the piano yeah?-”

Well, _obviously_ he did.

 

“- so now, you see that writing over there?”

 

Brainz took a moment, _there_ could’ve been directed at one of the two pieces of text adorned to the walls, there was no supplement of an arm pointing in the direction of the correct one.

 

The actual textbox properly mounted on the wall with its archaic writing.

_A Haunting song echoes down the corridor… won’t you play along?_

 

He wanted to get to that later: the other “sign” didn’t even look official, like someone carved a circle, followed by cardinal directions, followed by an 'X" which apparently was equal to the word "Quit". 

 

 

For his sakes, he decided to take a shot at the sign that made the most sense, so the "hieroglyphics" were put aside.

 

“But… I don’t hear anything, do you?”

 

He got a nod, so it _was_ the right choice.

“Exactly yo, so now c’mon with me, I gotta show you the other thing now.

They didn’t even wait for Brainz to question it, he followed after them regardless of his objections.

 

“Wait wha- but what about the piano? What did you want us to-  Hey! Slow down at least!”

 

In their eagerness to get to the next exhibit, they had seemed to overlook Brainz aversion to running. Brainz had to pace up before the kid vanished again.

“Ow- Ow - Ow - Ow-”

Every other step, he complained under his breath.

“Ow- Ow -Ow O-... Oh crap, there’s more signs on the wall and I want to read them and-”

 

“What are you saying?”

He’d caught up to the kid, both of them had stopped.

 

“- wha? Oh! Nothing. But um, what are we doing here now? And-”

 

Brainz began to look around for what could’ve been so damned important, more important than his aching foot… when he saw it: he just stopped complaining.

 

The rhythmic percussion of water drops falling from aloft were acting alone to create sound. Directly below the fissure in the ceiling from whence they came, the thing they hit upon to create their symphony: Brainz didn't stare at it, it stared at _him…_ it stared _into_ him.

 

An artificial formation of stone, shaped by intentions and vision, lay on the ground perpetually rained upon. What it was supposed to resemble was placed behind tribulation as severe physical degradation plagued the thing. It looked utterly deformed; ruined; _defeated…_ and desolate.

 

“What… _is_ it?”

He felt so obligated to ask… his voice softened: the coarse aggravation was gone and replaced with a tranquility. There was a certain aura to him now… it was unsure, yet compelling.

 

“Why… does it _look_ like this?

Why is it so… _damaged?_ _  
_ Who did this?

Why is it like this?”

 

The child broke the gaze he had on it, sounding a new level of concerned, they nudged Brainz with their head to get his attention.

“Are you Okay?”

 

Brainz shook his head a bit to clear his thoughts, he turned to the kid: playing it cool and content, like it never bother him, but he faintly sounded uneased… almost trembling his words and blowing his ruse.

“Huhm? Yeah… I’m fine, but… what is the story on this thing? What is it? It looks so-”

Brainz glanced at it once more and trailed off again.

“- _Weird…”_

 

The child retained their concern to a subtlety, giving off those quirks that kids had, being inexperienced at concealing their feelings. Brainz wouldn’t notice it though, being oddly preoccupied as he was.

 

“No one I’ve ever talked to or seen here could tell me that. This statue just sits here forever, always getting rained on from above. I guess if it had been taken care of a bit more, we’d be able to tell what it’s supposed to be or something… but it _is_ just a weird thing, yo.”

 

Brainz had to just… _stare_ at the thing, the streams of water cascading off of the soaked stone… they bothered him. He began to feel a desire to make them stop, to make it stop. He was audible with his intentions.

 

“Is there… anything we can do for it? Can we help it? I feel like… we should _do_ something, I dunno why.”

 

He sounded very distant… out of it: _himself._ Strangely composed and content with it.

 

The child buried the concern and became excited on the spot.

“Yes! That’s exactly it! You get it too, don’t you?”

 

“What do I get?”

Brainz was inflicted with a sense of persistent confusion over the thing. The child didn’t have the patience to rectify his questions and goaded him to follow it out of the room again.

“Ok, come with me one more time now, cmon!”

 

Brainz gave a partial protest.

“But..-”

He had somehow developed an exiguous desire not to leave the statue alone… not without answers at least. He felt unsatisfied when he had no choice but to follow ahead.

 

Thankfully, he only had to walk just beyond the small chamber to meet with his friend again, standing adjacent to an oddly placed bucket of umbrellas, conveniently waiting for someone to steal them.

_Please take one._

A sign to explain the sight, begged anyone passing through to do so, as another fissure in the ceiling let out a more constant flow of water.

 

“What’s with the umbrellas?”

Brainz meekly laid his question out from his lips, remembering that he could raise his eyebrows and sound skeptical again.

 

“Take one, trust me.”

 

His question was unanswered, and his idea of the premise of this room was nonexistent, but oddly enough, instead of objecting to such a hasted request. Brainz felt compelled to do exactly what the sign and the child asked him to do, he picked out a snazzy red umbrella, both of his hands were occupied now, the other with his blatantly visible shotgun that hadn’t been questioned yet.

 

“Okay, now let's go back now.”

 

The child turned right around, waiting for Brainz to motion as well this time. He didn’t say anything or question the reasoning behind this, because as they walked back to the statue: he had already realized what was occurring.

 

He had thought of it sufficiently enough that as soon as they returned to the wet thing: Brainz diligently opened the umbrella and went to shelter the statue without being prompted by the child. They didn’t react to this action as well, because it was what he was _supposed_ to do.

 

This was another artificial scenario that had been laid out for him… but he was unable to care for it.

* * *

[Memory](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sab3Mi62HHE)

As soon as he found a stable spot for the umbrella to go, the statue responded to the gesture. Something began to resonate from inside of it… something soft and gentle. _Music._ From somewhere within the dilapidated stone figure, music began to emanate into the room.

 

Brainz gasped dreadfully and stepped back in a stupor. He stood where he landed, motionless, almost frozen from the melody ringing into him. This metallic procession of notes, they sought to calm… to soothe the unrested, the upset, like a lullaby. Brainz however… received this simple melody in such a radically different manner.

 

Each note seemed to echo, annunciating the emptiness inside of him … worse even, that it agitated the nothingness… reaching out to it as it it would find something.

 

It hit him again: deja vu: Pure and abject: the strongest it had ever been. It enveloped him completely from the world… taking everything away from him: his injuries, his weapons, the child next to him, the very floor he stood upon. There was nothing left… except a feeling of dread, anguish… _guilt._

 

“Ohh… my … god.”

 

The whisper that left him was soft and considerate as to not overshadow the music, timid and true, but it would be followed by less muted words… they would come out involuntarily, as if Brainz wouldn’t be able to stifle them even if he could try.

 

They were an additional series of questions, _desires,_ but now becoming abstract, increasingly less concerned with the hindrances of so called “logic” and “relativity” but just wanting answers… one after the other as Brainz began to fall into a trance, mesmerized by the tune, _wanting._

 

“This… song... Why is it so sad?

Why is it so… alone?

Why did it _need_ me?

Why did it _want_ me?

Why did _I_ want it?  
_Why does it want to help me? I don’t need help_!

_It needed help… it needed help…”_

 

Brainz wasn’t even aware of what came out of him, but he could feel his arm returning to the statue. He gently ran his hand through the stone, stroking it with such care, the questions became increasingly burdened. It was upsetting him just to hear them.

 

“Why does this feel… feel so _FAMILIAR?”_

I just don’t _get_ it! Why?!

Why do I feel so… burdened?

Did I do this?

I don’t… remember if I did this… no…

 

Why do I feel so reprehensible for this?

Why does this feel so _culpable_

_Why am I so guilty?”_

 

**_What… have I done?”_ **

 

That last question, repeated itself from him: many times. A part of him wanted to know… it was as if he was begging the figure to answer him, that if he pleaded enough… that it would all be answered. That he’d be _OK._ That everything would be _OK_ again.

“ _What… have I done?_

 _What have I done?_ _  
_ _What have I done?_

_What have I done?_

_W H A T  H A V E  I  D O-”_

* * *

The memory has ended.

 _  
_ “ _BRAINZ!!”_

A startling voice shattered the void around him, the real world rushed into him with a wretched gasp. The wind was violently taken from him and he partially hacked as he struggled for air.

 

He was lying on the ground, a straight view to the pseudo-stars above was obstructed by the child, A look of fear was situated onto their anxious eyes, they were loud and demanding: severely concerned.

 

“I’m sorry I had to do that! But,you wouldn’t answer me! Are you _OK!?_ What happened?!”

 

Both of them were badly shaken, Brainz continued to quiver as he slowed his breathing. The child trembled over him as their gaze near hysterically begged for an explanation, something Brainz didn’t have. He tilted his head off of the ground, the Umbrella had been defeated from its perch: letting the raindrops strike the statue. The music had ceased.

 

“Brainz? Brainz! **Are you Okay?** Do I need to get someone to come help? Please, say something dude! I’m going to blame myself for this forever if this did something to you! Answer me!”

(...)

He just stared into them with a blank, _null_ expression.

 

He still couldn’t make any sense of what was happening, so he had to start from the basics. The music had stopped and he was on the ground, he could see that the child was visibly fraught, his instinct was the first of him to come back. He immediately tried to fix the sight.

 _“_ I’m fine.”

 

It didn’t work for the child, they began to blush being so upset.

 

“No you’re _not!_ Stop lying! After all we talked about and you’re doing this to me?! Tell me what’s going _on_ with you! I can handle it! I _can’t_ handle you doing this to yourself!”

 

Brainz could just barely see their lips quivering, eyes beginning to reflect more light… like glass. That expression… he could just remember what it meant, that look when someone cared for you… so much that it hurt them. He’d only known that because he’d experienced that look before… and he couldn’t figure _why._

 

Why was this so upsetting to this creature that barely knew to use his name? Why would such an innocent thing try to look out for such a stranger like him? Why did they care so much? It was a blatant inverse to “Too little, too late” This was “Too early, Too much.” He could never have cared for himself… so why did they?

 

“I… I… I-”

 

He was at a loss for words, unwilling to look away from the terrified kid in a bid to find them.

 

“I…. don’t know-”

 

It was the most unemotional and apathetic delivery he had ever done, never would he exclude _some_ form of emotion whether feigned or not. But he couldn’t think of anything… his mind was shot from the experience he’d just endured.

 

“I’m sorry… I don’t know… what came over me.”

 

He looked right into the trembling child, giving them a completely apathetic expression to match his neutral tone. He didn’t know how to feel about this. But he _did_ know that whatever he did put them to this verge of tears, and it took priority over his own well being.

 

“I didn’t mean to scare you…

I’m sorry…

I am so sorry…”

 

He heard the dispassionate tone in his voice, despite trying. Brainz repeated his apology and tried to do it correctly, but he couldn’t get himself to sound any different.

 

“I’m sorry…

I’m so sorry…

I’m so sorry...

I’m sorry.”

 

There was something missing from him, the desire was there: genuinely. But it was as if the emotion he wanted to carry out… just wasn’t there.

 

Brainz tried to sit up to try to get the world to stop revolving around him, but he was impeded by a foot nudging him back down.

 

“No… _don’t_ get up and keep lying that you’re OK, I don’t want to be lied to anymore. I want you to tell me what’s wrong, why you keep acting like that-”

 

The hysteria seemed to have assuaged some from them, appeased from seeing Brainz talk and respond to them finally, albeit exaggerating and falsifying. They calmed down to a more subtly _hurt_ form of upset.

 

“- and If you don’t want to trust me like you promised you would… then I won’t have any reason to trust you, and to trust that you’re not sick.

So… you made me do this: if you don’t tell me what’s wrong with you: then we’re going to stop looking for the human and Undyne, because I can’t trust that you’re OK enough to keep me and yourself safe from the human…   _and_ you’re not allowed to be here without me anyways.”

 

They released their foot off of Brainz and he sighed as he pushed himself upright, they stared at him scornfully. _This_ was just a teaser of his comeuppance for lying, and while the _real_ consequence was still tucked away, what was occurring now was just as unbearable.

 

If Some random creature showing such care for him was wrong and unheard of, then he was just as bad actually feeling grief and remorse for them. He could tell that this anger was born from the acute most level of concern, but still he croaked out an assumption, which sounded hurt itself: almost trying to guilt the monster into submission.

 

“You would… _leave_ me, because I was sick?”

 

They took offense to that assumption, flaring up in hysterics again.

“ _No!_

Listen to yourself! Why would _I_ do that? Why would I abandon you when I just told you how scared I was for you, and how I _really REALLY_ want to know what’s wrong with you so I can _HELP_ you?!”

 

“I… don’t know..”

 

In a way… this was almost liberating, because Brainz was finally showing some of his true colors, previously repressed behind a near blase attitude. He wished solemnly though, that he had done this in the past, but feeling some of his lies dither away were the only thing keeping him from obsessing over that statue.

 

“Okay… here’s what _I’m_ doing-”

They filled their speech with command and sternness, Brainz would imagine that if they had arms: they’d be crossed.

 

“- _I’m_ going to head back and you’re going to follow me because _I’m_ not allowed to be alone if _I’m_ such a little baby to you, and if you don’t come with me: then _I’m_ going to tell Sans.”

 

Okay, the time for feeling sorry and resentful for himself slammed to a halt. The kid didn’t _have_ to actually fulfill the threat either by actually walking away, but they did and Brainz jumped up to his feet and sprinted forward (ignoring his foot and sense of vertigo) to block their path. When he got the kid to stop, looking up at him with a raised brow on their aloof face. Brainz frantically reeled himself in. Waving his arms in front of his chest to get more attention.

 

“ **_Whoa_ ** -whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa! Hey hey _hey_ now! Let’s _NOT_ do that, _okay?!_ Let’s sit down for a second and talk! Okay? Talking! I will talk for real! Talking… yes.”

 

He got a “Hmmph” and a fully raised brow aiming a skeptical face at him. So much for being subtle and inconspicuous, it was time to come clean: anything was better than having to deal with Sans again.

“Fine… fine, I will tell you whatever you ask, I swear to _god_ this time, I _really_ mean it… honest to all god, Ok?”

 

From the haste that he went to reject the idea of Sans: Brainz couldn’t have been more obvious with his abhorrence for the creep and if this kid picked up on it… then he’d lose them for sure.

So, he desperately tried everything he could think of, to prevent that from being considered, putting other factors into risk.

 

“You _promise?_ Or are you just saying what I want to hear?”

 

Brainz gritted his teeth and winced at the accusation, it hurt because it was truthful: that and now this simple child had figured him out. Some abstract thinking here and there… and Brainz would become an unconditional periah.

 

“I… I….”

He looked all over and ‘glitched’ and twitched around, his body wanted to refuse what his intentions were, but the will and desire for ‘Self Preservation’ overrode it. The first word he’d say came out rough.

“- **_Prr-oomisssse._ ** No more lies… and I’ll start: that you really will not like what I have to say, **_trust_ ** me on that, and if on nothing else… then so be it.”

 

They nodded conscientiously and directly stared him in the eyes.

“Why did you come here?”

 

 


	9. Undependable Confidant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drifting motes carry in the breeze. 
> 
> Your lies will only carry you so far, you've always known this.  
> It won't matter, will it? How long you've decieved them.. because..
> 
> Dust to Dust,  
> And Ashes to Ashes
> 
> You'll fall down eventually.
> 
> So what does it matter?

“Well? Are you going to answer me?”

The creature followed up their original question with this simple conformation when it went unanswered for ten seconds.

The look on Brainz's face couldn’t have shown anymore incredulity, humans were incapable of making such expressions: even _him._

 

“What… do you mean?”

No more games, no more beating around the bush: requesting this elaboration would give him a choice of two options, both tremendously dissimilar to each other. He had put himself up to this point and knew that this could be the end of his interaction, the conclusion to something once positive to him: induced by his bad decisions.

 

“What else _could_ I mean, man? I want to know why you actually came down here, are you going to tell me the truth for once?”

 

The ambiguity of the demand was gut wrenching, Brainz felt a growl flare up inside of him.

_They just HAD to say “Down” Didn’t they?_

 

As strung up and put to edge as he was though, Brainz couldn’t show it… just for the absurd off chance that his fears were not realized yet. In a way: this was beyond the horror of losing his cover, because at least he’d have the silver lining of certainty with that outcome. But this tensity, so undetermined and moot, gave his mind free reign into old compulsions and teeth grinding obsessions.

 

He forced the torrent of frantic thoughts and proposals to slam to a halt and picked the most recent one, given nothing but horrid randomness… he gambled and asked one final follow up question.

“Down _here?”_

He pointed to the ground shared by them, putting all of his attention to the child’s eyes, the most primary source of the answer he so desired. He felt his heart lurch and collide into his insides when the abject look burst onto their face and they reared to yell at him… surely it was over.

 

“D-d-down here what- you-no… Dude, _Hellooo!? Waterfall!? Snowden!?!_ Where we _just CAME FROM?!_ Where else would you be?!-”

The injection of exasperated patronization was the most minute glimmer of heaven’s light into the dark, it told him everything he _wanted_ to know, he also _needed_ to know this… but actually getting what he wanted? Truly inimitable!

 

The kid shook their head, obviously riled.

“- really now? Like _really??_ I was so worried about being polite that I didn’t really ask you _why_ you were all the way in Snowden if you leaving the capitol was such a bad thing. Don’t even tell me that you were looking for the human already, because we **_both_ ** know that would be a lie… because we both didn’t find out until we came here! Is it really something so horrible what you were doing that you are _sooo_ against just telling me?”

 

It dove into the willpower delegated to holding his patience with this child, to prevent Brainz from openly sighing with such outward relief from hearing that. For all they knew, the person they were chewing out wasn’t the human they were looking for, the kid probably thought that he was a massive schmuck at this point… But Brainz could cope with that anyday over being exposed, feeling the returning embrace of predictability and control… he sounded off the breakthrough.

 

“ _Oooooooh! That’s_ what you meant! Oh man, I’m sorry, I uh, didn’t… I wasn’t thinking straight for a…-”

 

He laughed nervously in company with the truly unamused face he was getting, Brainz wiped the heavy perspiration off of his forehead. He was able to drop the acted “easygoing” outlook because it wasn’t working anymore, one less lie he had to live so all in all: it really wasn’t too bad. Brainz swallowed roughly and released his restraint on his voice, sounding less friendly and more like himself.

 

“Ok… you want to know why you met me back at the library? Well… it’s so blatant that you’ll probably hate me more than you already do right now-”

 

Some minor dejection raised the kid’s eyebrows.

“I don’t hate you… I-”

 

They were hushed by a hand gesturing for a pause.

“-Please let me finish… you want me to talk and that’s what I’m doing for you. Just let me explain before you get riled up, okay?”

 

Brainz took the silence as a begrudging “yes”.

“Thing is… I went there just so I could check out a book.”

 

He knew they weren’t going to believe him without evidence, Brainz had already went for the cached thing before he even finished his sentence, the worn out book was brought between them.

 

“See? This, I went to get _this…_ I was really uncomfortable having to leave my… *home* but I eventually had to go for this. It’s been such a long time since I’ve been down here that well… I really don’t remember much.”

 

Seemed like that ‘half and half’ lie worked some, Brainz held out the book for the kid to inspect: knowing they wouldn’t be able to pan through it any, so he was ready for an inquiry to come up, and it did.

“Well, what kind of book is it?”

 

Brainz thought quite carefully about that, he spent the mental capacity with scenarios and outcomes to weave a story, barely touched by a lie that would be sewn into ambiguity. He thought of the lousy reading he had actually done over it.

“It’s a history book… pretty much a story about everything… remember, I dropped out of school when I was younger.”

 

“Okay?”

They were still accepting what they were being told, but it wasn’t enough yet to appease them, the alibi was still incomplete, so Brainz began to glaze over and sugarcoat what had actually been occurring to him so far. At least they were true originally.

 

“That whole bit about me _needing-”_

(He exaggerated the word)

“- me to return for something important, that wasn’t true. I really just wanted to go back home and be alone, I said all that just so you wouldn’t have to burden yourself with my problems.”

 

“But, Brainz-”

 

Again, he didn’t let them contribute.

“I’m almost done, I promise.”

 

The child sighed irritably, but let Brainz continue without any further input.

 

“So I was just on my way back and I um…-”

Getting dirt kicked into his eye by an unsuspecting Undyne was what came up… it took him a moment to convert it into something less conspicuous.

 

“- I… heard footsteps behind and I panicked… I hid in some grass and waited for it to go away and well… that’s where you found me, snoozing.”

 

“So.. wait, so you _did_ see Undyne before I found you?”

 

“I don’t know, I didn’t peek out to see who it was, I don’t do well meeting new people.”

To be fair, he didn’t peek out and at the time, he didn’t know who Undyne was. It was just some lug wearing a suit of armor to him. Brainz continued.

“You went off and I shambled behind… I erm… met up with Sans and he told me about the human, giving me a warning. And that was when you came back and met up with me again. At that point, it became less of me wanting to go *home* and more me trying to find this guy.”

_Yourself_

 

Then… almost off of a tangent, Brainz went to elaborate something that wasn’t even requested yet, he returned the book to his bag and held out his shotgun for both of them to gaze at.

“If you were going to ask about this by the way, I’ll tell you-”

  
_What are you doing?! You don’t NEED to do this, what are you trying to do?_

 

“- this is a weapon… I have it, so I can use it  against the human, I always carry it around actually… just in case-”  
They looked up at him with some form of subtle grief, where actual belief was lacking, Brainz didn’t stop his climbing risk, and he was becoming quite aware of it.

 

_STOP! Have you completely lost your damn mind?! That stupid music box really must’ve fucked you up! Don’t DO this!!_

 

He acknowledged the concerns to himself but held the sternness in him, even appearing far more weighty than he had ever looked. Brainz gently wafted the weapon around and felt his lips move… and heard what came out.

“Remember that noise that only you heard? That really loud bang?”

 

They were tensing up, and needed to quell the uncertainty for themselves.

“Yeeeeaaah?”

 

_For fuck’s sake, you’re doing this._

“We heard it, Sans did… and I did too… because I made that noise, with this. I… already had a run in with the human.”

 

The outrage was all but subtle, and they jumped back.

“ _WHAT?!”_

 

Brainz kept uncharacteristically calm and nodded slowly with his eyes closed.

“I know… I know… I um… they ran into me and I… well-”

 

The amount of the material he had to work with had become so large that he was having trouble getting something together, but the stuttering and tripping over words could easily have been taken as reluctance rather than a delay in fabrication.

“- I had to use this to protect myself and it made the loud noises… and in fact-”

He motioned to his aching foot.

“- That’s why I can’t run so much… I hurt my foot in the little encounter. Twisted my ankle.”

 

It was so close to the truth, yet so far. Everything was correct except the placement of whom. Brainz would never get the chance to come unconditionally clean, everything he was relaying now would tear apart the footing of his previous tales. Replacing the shoddy patchwork with deceptive cement.

 

He was almost on a hunch that this child was about to explode with how rapid they were moving around and pouring out words.

 

“Wha.. b-b-b-bb-b-b-but-but but, that’s.. That’s not… that, you? You… you … I… and her and-”

 

Brainz let the speech malfunction and excitement continue for as long as it would before it could burn out, partly because he needed to sit back and come to terms with what he had just did. Brainz had taken into the strategy of hiding in plain sight with his lie, portraying himself like some kind of inflated figure, something that he was absolutely in no way _NOT._ A hero.

 

_‘Oh Wwoww! That’s great huh! You two and Undyne fixing everything? You’re gonna be heros!’_

 

It was almost amusing, he pulled out that line from the squid monster than had horrified him so much. _Heros…_ somehow that word bothered him more than even the worst insult or derogatory term thrown at him. Maybe because anyone giving it to him was flat out lying to his face.

 

“Are you _serious_ right now?!”

 

That was the first comprehensible thing that came out after Brainz dropped the deviated truth. He managed to set himself up again and wanted to be sure that it was more permanent, so he took examples from himself as collateral.

 

“Yes, I am. I wouldn’t make something as crazy as _this_ up to you, I swear to god that that is what happened, the unvarnished truth.”

 

The unrest was beginning to build inside of him, mortared by cement of anxiety, the weight on the rise without end. The hypocrisy was becoming redundant now, fully against the sick and fantastic notion that a world without prediction could exist: every person, surface and stone stricken with ambiguity, Brainz would never dream of not only capitulating to it, but to advocate such a heinous thing.

If he wanted to flat out lie, he could’ve conjured something beyond ridiculous: unconditionally absurd. If he wanted to subject him and everyone near to callous tribulations, then he would usher forth and unleash the reality from within him, spawning partisan judgement on every soul below the stalactites above. But a merger of such inverse deeds? What he was doing was an infraction: A transgression against everything he stood for. Undoing his own predictability.

 

“But… but then… what happened to the human? Did you get them? Does Undyne know? Are you OK? Dude! That was awhile ago! Why didn’t you _tell me?_ I mean Ohmygosh! That’s nuts yo!” 

Again, they were beginning to spiral, and Brainz felt all the more worse about it, he hoped that anything he could do would ease up on their anxiety, he just wanted to alleviate the pressure.

 

“I know… I know… I’m sorry. I am so sorry for all of this… I wanted to keep it away from you because I didn’t want you to _worry._ About me… about this human: that everything was OK. I just…”

He couldn’t look them in the eyes all of the sudden, which was at a poor time: because there was an overwhelming sadness to them. Brainz lost his whole tone down to a morose grumble.

 

“ _I wanted…. To protect you.” (From Myself)_

They didn’t exchange any further words, not for a good moment or so. Both of them were taking this intermission to make ends of everything.

 

“You… _you did?_ ”

 

The exasperated and aggravated voice had finally left the child, they asked for that confirmation with genuine awe… _feeling._ Their face (when Brainz could look at them again) was just as surprised.

 

Brainz felt an uncontrollable yet weak smirk form on his face… his lips moved again, without his consent too.

“ _Yes… (child)._

_You Being upset when you see how others treat you like a kid… you gotta know that sometimes, them… what the people do that you look up to, your friends and your family. That they do these things, not to belittle you… but to keep you safe… to protect you, because they love you.”_

 

There was a sort of glimmer in their eyes, it complimented the jaw hanging ajar. Brainz almost titled his head in confusion for the reception he got, until he belatedly comprehended what he just said himself.

“Oh jeez… that was probably _really_ friggen weird wasn’t it? As if I didn’t already-”

 

“No, it’s not weird at all…”

 

He had just been told that his self check was wrong, he was confused to say the least.

“It’s not, you sure? It’s the one thing I’d agree with ya.”

 

The monster advanced a step closer to Brainz, one of them was more comfortable than the other. They began to smile as if they’d just had a breakthrough.

 

“Not at all… if you think that’s weird then I guess _all_ of us can be weird with you. I just wish you woulda told me _before,_ yo… but then again, I wouldn’t have thought of it like I do now. You didn’t do it on purpose… you just didn’t want anything bad to happen to me… because you care about me.”

 

Brainz driveled for just a second, taken back by what he had heard. At the end of his bout of gibbering, something slipped out.

“Yes?”

He felt the sensation welling up inside of him before he felt the touch or saw it coming. The child stepped as close as possible to Brainz, just inches from where he knelt, and they leaned into his shoulder.

Brainz felt the grip from their neck and head gently squeezing against his, he couldn’t make heads or tails of what they were doing for the longest time, until a shiver ran from his mind and coursed through him.

The child had forgiven him for what he had done…. It was a _hug._ When he had finally deduced what it was, Brainz felt his arms slowly coming together too: so cautious and gentle until he had completely embraced them. It was such a novel thing, _this_ is what it felt like to be forgiven.

 

He’d never have seen it coming, never imagine that he’d do this. As unpredictable as it was… he liked it. He wanted more of it, he wanted it to last longer than it actually did when they separated. He brushed himself off and stood up.

* * *

 

They looked at him, wiser with experience.

“I get it now, I’m sorry for getting so upset at you before.”

 

Brainz was still in a state of murkiness from the hug, it was a positive feeling but he still felt blurry. Not enough to prevent him from hearing the child.

“It’s OK, I’m sorry too for not telling the truth and scaring you… I should’ve told you my quirks and my ‘weirdness’ or at least that stuff like that is normal to me. The errhn, music and stuff…. aheh..”

 

They both chuckled internally, calmly. Brainz returned to being that friendly monster that the kid saw, but this time he actually felt like it. This wasn’t an act.

“We still friends?”

 

The kid nodded, still smiling compassionately.

“Yeah man…  we’re still cool.

So…”

 

They toyed with the word, still on the fence about changing the subject again, but they eventually pressed on it.

“So… what _did_ happen with the human then? Did you get them? What did they look like? What did they do to you?”

 

Brainz foresaw questions like that, not so much the last one but, he still didn’t feel all to uncomfortable answering them.

“Well… all I can say is… about him… he’s…”

 

In place of an ‘ _Uuhhhhh.’_ Brainz  went to his experiences for material, he found a grievance and sought to bend it into a usable form, something sparked into his mind. His cognitive mechanism produced something.

He could continue his streak of honesty and relay _exactly_ what had happened, but now the catch to prevent him from incriminating himself? Everytime he would reference “Undyne” he would cross it out and replace her name with “The human.”

 

It could’ve worked, it _had_ to work and to really emphasize on that necessity: Brainz would convince himself that it already did, and he spoke with confidence.

 

“Well… to start, _I_ didn’t see him coming when he did… I was out there tryin to find you, actually. And I was just minding to my own merits when all of the sudden-”

 

Brainz stomped onto the ground with his good foot for dramatics, he made the child jitter a bit from the surprise.

“ _CRACK!_ There he was, just like that. Out of nowhere: human standing beside me.”

 

The child gasped, and shrank down a bit… obviously anxious.

“Ooohhh, what happened next? Tell me, tell me!”

 

Brainz felt an increase in his aplomb, his plan seemed to be working. He was going to hide in plain sight with this story, he wanted to make it _good._

“So, I got a good long look at him… and he did the same. We just took each other in for what seemed like _hours,_ like we were both just _stunned_ at the sight of each other. Like he’d never seen anything like _me_ before and I, him.”

 

They began to bounce with increasing tempo, Brainz smiled some more and truly began to add more flair to the story.

“Oh yeah… and when I felt that we were gonna turn to stone we were standing still for so long, I broke the ice and opened my mouth to talk to this lug.”

 

A wondrous noise was his response, their eyes grew to their maximum size.

 

“- Yeah, I know! So, I looked at him and I just said “Are we going to be friends? Or is this going to be the start of something else?”

 

Brainz’s imagination was in full steam now, he began to swing his mood around: moving in grand and quick motions to truly put himself into the drama.

 

“Welp, turns out it was ‘something else.’ because not seconds after I asked that, **_pow!_ ** He immediately went after me! No warning or _anything._ Just **_whoosh!_ ** Something went right past my head, and then it was on.

The human launched these things at me, throw after throw! I could feel them whizzing past me, feeling the wind with each close call! **_whiz! whip! whish!_ ** They were trying so hard to hit me, but not _one_ of them would touch me.”

 

The child had stopped bouncing, they stalled in place, stars branded in their huge eyes.

 

“And then, just when I was sure he would run out, I let myself get a little cocky and then **_smack!_ ** One smacked me right in my foot! I was caught by such a surprise that I went down to the ground! The human spared no time to close in on me: he must’ve thought that it was over, that my lights would go out.”

 

He growled, he snarled. He procured such gravely gruffness in his voice that tickled his throat, clutching his shotgun and swinging it around like a flag.

“But _I_ didn’t, I looked at them in a way that they _had_ to return it. I wasn’t going to let him off so easy _Ooooh No_ . I demanded loudly that he look me in the eyes, to prove he had to courage to do such a thing. And when I saw his stance begin to crumble, I _knew_ that he was too cowardly to fight me with honor. He turned his head to not bear what they were about to do, he raised his weapon up and tall, fit and _hungry_ to rip the very life away from me.”

 

“Noooo!”

The awe and disbelief was incredible, never even holding someone at gunpoint did Brainz witness such a captive audience. He jumped up and exclaimed loudly, to mimic the energy from the weapon he had discharged many minutes ago.

 

“ **_KA-BLAM!!_ **

I made my move and took the chance to strike away from them! They faltered from the attacks, their defense absolutely pierced, compromised, destroyed! Their once solid confidence was now nothing but sand in the wind! They went _flyin!_

And just when I got back up, ready to take them on fairly?

They ran away with what little strength and determination they had left! I knew there and then that their scary legend and myths were just that! Nothing but stories and alleged glimpses!

When I went to give chase, I was reminded of the little damage they inflicted on me, and before I could look up again… they had vanished into their cowardice.”

 

He panted, all of his breath donated to the surge of words that had come out of him, burned up as fuel for pronounced and fantasized fable. In the moment to regain his breath, a sweat drop not pertaining to exertion would begin to form on his face, as he noticed the expression on the child’s face. It appeared as if they had been excited to the point of a shutdown, _or_  to Brainz that he had crossed the threshold with something in his fabrication.

 

“Dude…”

They spoke, absolved from the momentum they had once brought up… Brainz swallowed hard and prepared to utterly regret everything he had just done.

 

“That… _is totally WICKED!!”_

They burst into absolute exuberance, taking Brainz back in the shift.

 

“You almost _totalled_ him! _Duuuuuuude!_ You are so… so _cool!_ I don’t even think Undyne is _that_ fast! I mean that must’ve been only-”

 

Brainz began to feel a tenderness in his face, he giggled nervously as his grin grew to full size, a liar’s grin. The child continued to babble their praises and commendations to Brainz’s image, if he didn’t know any better: he may have presented himself as someone out of an epic with his *creative* truth manipulation.

 

“-Awww _mannn…_ it stinks that he got away, but dude. With you and Undyne working together, he is _so_ toast! You two are gonna be _unstoppable!_ Does Mr Dreemurr know that you can do that? Ohhh man! I bet you could totally beat _him_ up if you tried. I don’t know why you would but like you probably _could_ or maybe even _Undyne!_ Are you a part of the royal guard? You should be! Why not dude? You would give everyone so much hope!”

 

He rubbed the back of his neck and shied away from them, at least his gaze.

“Awwwwwwh… _Nawwhhh.._ Bud… don’t say that now, I’m nothing special.”

 

They invaded right up to him, sounding off with young defiance.

“Yeah- _huhhhhh_ you are. No one here has _ever_ been able to send a human packing like that, I think. You are amazing.”

 

Again, Brainz sheepishly declined.

“Naah man… naah.”

 

Thing was, he knew he was genuinely asking the kid to stop, he was already uncomfortable enough with this lie. So now that his hubris was going to set the kid off, liable to speak for him and pick fights beyond Brainz’s interaction: he was already beginning to regret what he did.

 

_You don’t even know why you did that… you just keep self sabotaging yourself, because you aren’t in enough shit as it is already. All for this insignificant child, with no connections to anyone it seems… well except you. Whatever good that does. It’s OK though, you just keep puffing up your chest and feeling good about yourself, you deserve it. Or at least you’ll deserve it when it comes back and hits you in the face._

 

He needed to think for a moment, the second rebuttal coming from the child to his respective denial would keep them occupied as he considered the circumstances now. Everything he said would solely exist in his head, a growing trend by this point.

* * *

  


“Alright… I just stroked my own ego for no apparent reason, when I could’ve just told em that I shot the bastard a couple times and ran, but whatever… that’s done and through now. This kid is now comparing me to that asshole like I’m some kind of super soldier… I’m _sure_ that’s going to be one of the many foreseeable ends to me-”

 

His thoughts sighed, he looked at the child jumping around while their lips ran and ran.

 

“- So I got like… at least like three… four if I assume boney houdini wants to get in on it too: fucktards trying to kill me.

I got this kid looking at me like some kind of celebrity, it’s almost sad that they ate up what I said so well… especially after I almost blew my damned cover…

 

This is so _fucked,_ whenever we run into that big asshole again, what am I gonna do? Well _Obviously_ I’m going to tear it a an even bigger asshole and then some… but what about this kid? What the hell would I tell them then? That this is some kind of game? No… it’s going to happen eventually and there’s nothing I can do to stop it now.”

 

A woeful groan ran through him, unheard by the kid.

  


“Whatever! I just _met_ them! So it’s not like I’m gonna care or anything! I only did this so I wouldn’t have to deal with _them_ up my ass. I’m going to leave here alone anyway, so it’s not like it _means_ anything to me! I just wanted to have a little bit of fun with them! Yeah!

Yeah……”

 

He didn’t want to dwell on that particular thought any longer, he focused on something else.

 

“Mr Dreemurr… Mr Dreemurr… still have no idea who that _is._ I can’t just ask this kid, it’d just be another big ass circle to waste my time… I’ll just have to figure it when I meet the guy I guess, I hate this.

 

At least I _know_ this ‘Undyne’ bitch started it, so I won’t hesitate to shove this damn gun up their ass and give them a lead suppository.

Same goes for “Asgore” fucking piece of shit probably started this somehow, If I ever meet him, I’ll be sure to empty this into him.

 

Who knows? This kid is so fond of Mr Dreemurr, maybe he’s more like Toriel, that would be nice for once. Someone else who (well for the most part) doesn’t try to flay me? Maybe they’ll know each other.

Hmm.. maybe... ok though: back to reality."

* * *

  


Brainz redirected his attention back to the kid, waiting for a pause in their rambling so he could interject.

“-never seen a monster who kept their attack with them all the time but then that means you are always ready, maybe you can share that with Undyne.”

 

He cleared his throat.

“Heya, as much fun as we’re having talking about it, you think we can get going again? I think doing it would be much cooler.”

 

The kid stumbled to a halt on their words, they prattled for a second: making some quick glances at the forgotten statue with them, but ultimately stopping. Looking at Brainz.

 

“Urrhm? Oh yeah, sure. I’m sorry, we already went off track enough, yeah we probably should be going now, you’re right. Sorry.”

 

They were derailed… Brainz felt empathy for them, that feeling was all too familiar too.

“I think you oughta lay up on the apologies to me, you didn’t do nothing wrong. Ima start charging ya for going over your daily allotment.”

 

They snickered some, distracting from the abrupt shift.

“Aheh, Okay, sorry Brainz.”

 

Brainz sounded off, unseriously.

“ _Ahp!_ What did I just say?”

 

“Oh, sorry.”

 

“ _Uph!_ That’s another one!”

 

They began to joke too, smiling as they melodramatically apologized

“ _Sorr-reeey”_

 

Brainz feigned insult.

“You did it again!”

 

“Oh, I’m _truly_ sorry.”

 

“I’m gonna have to write you a bill, you keep this up!”

“I’m sorry.”

 

The child tried to hold their serious expression, but all they had to do was take one glance at Brainz’s absurdly pouty face, giving off silly noises: they lost it, along with Brainz.

Brainz was the first to get to control himself, he shook his head chuckling still.

“Alright, you goof, let's get goin.”

 

They proceeded on to the room stocked with umbrellas, the kid scampered back to the bucket, if this was an attempt at _another_ digression. Brainz would have to find a way to say “No.” He’d already hemorrhaged enough time.

 

“You’re gonna wanna take another umbrella yo.”

 

Brainz sighed and rolled his eyes, but still tried to sound open.

“But, didn’t we already do the thing with the statue? We really gotta get moving don’t we?”

Really while wasting more time wouldn't be in his best interest, Brainz was more concerned with having to listen to that music box again... he could just barely force it out of his head as it was.

 

The kid shook their head.

“Uhn-uhh, it’s not for that, we’re still moving on, just trust me.”

 

He shrugged and did so, taking a vibrant, green umbrella with him, and just like the first umbrella: the reason to take it became obvious no less than ten seconds after he obtained it. Although this reason was far more practical, seeing how it was inexplicably raining up ahead.

 

He glanced up to see where the water was coming from: completely pitch black without any device or reason behind the source of it, still decorated with the radiant lights of false stars.

 

He thought to himself grimly, “Of course.” and opened up the umbrella.

“Oh, I see.”

 

The kid moved closer to him.

“Yeah… I can’t hold an umbrella so…”

 

Brainz decreed that the thing wasn’t quite large enough for both of them, he held out the umbrella to shelter the kid more than himself. The water was dreadfully cold, it pricked against him with each raindrop.  Brainz spared little intention for himself over keeping the kid dry however.

 

They looked at him as they trudged through a huge puddle.

“Oh no yo, you don’t have to hold it out like that for me and get yourself all wet.”

 

Brainz felt guilty for the bit of guilt they had.

“It’s fine, this thing isn’t big enough for both of us anyways, don’t worry about it.”

 

The kid squinted at him for a second and made both of them stop.

“Sure it is! Lemme just get closer and… see? Now we’re both good!”

 

They were right on top of him, Brainz shuddered from the contact, less from his personal space being ignored, more from the outright thought that the child trusted him that much.

“Aheh, good thinking…”

 

They treaded on, basking in the recurring rhythm of raindrops, not a word between them was needed. It was actually quite peaceful despite how nonsensical it was. Brainz persisted straight and  closed his eyes. He treated himself to some deep breaths, crisp air… felt easier to go through his tattered lungs. Despite everything that had happened or would have yet to happen… he remembered how to enjoy the reprieve. Everything felt OK, at least for a little bit, and it was nice to feel like this.

 

“So…-”

The moment was already over, Brainz opened his eyes again and looked down at them.

“-You and um, Undyne… you’re gonna beat this human up when you find him again, right?”

 

There was something about they way they asked, they sounded like they were unsure of something. Brainz wanted to keep himself simple, he softly spoke under his breath.

“Yhep… that’s the plan.”

 

He got an obligated nod, but afterwards they had more to inquire about.

“So ummm… what’ll happen next then? Like… what’re you two going to do with him after you do that? If I can ask… no one’s ever really told me what happens next.”

 

Brainz nearly gagged when he heard that, not only was he now deceiving a truly innocent child: hedged from the rest of this twisted world. He, would be the one who purloins it: in power to fill and corrupt them with his untruths.

The way the kid asked about it… the merger of curiosity and anxiety making that almost pusillanimous tone… it was as if this child almost feared for the sake of this _human,_ for Brainz himself.

Brainz made the unexpected nature of the question known.

“ _Ooh…”_

  


It truly was a hard question to swallow, not only would he be talking about _himself_ again, but he actually didn’t _know_ what was _supposed_ to happen to him.  Sure, he knew that Undyne just wanted to flat out kill him. There was no way in his hell he’d believe anything but for her. It was unlikely he’d be liable for much else after being harpooned like a piece of trash on the side of the freeway, so there was _that._

 

But then there was that klazomaniac with a cape. Papyrus made it gratuitously clear that he wanted to “capture” Brainz. That freak was awful chipper about kidnapping him. Brainz believed not even the christian god would know what would happen after that, _HE_ certainly didn’t want to know either.  


And Sans? Well Sans didn’t count… there was no good reason to even involve him in this debate, Brainz already had a headache to ignore.

 

“ _Well…_ uhm… if or _when_ we get to them… we’ll… uh…”

He needed to pause again just to think of how to soften what he was going to say, what he _wanted_ to think, lest he destroy this child’s innocence with a snide remark.

“ Um… if I could say so.… I would say that… well…I think. And I seriously mean I _*THINK*_ … that when we get there…. That they… the human, that He probably won’t be able to  hurt anyone, ever again.”

 

It still came in hard, the child swayed their head in near dubiety, surprised. They gave the impression of shouting, under their breath as well.

“What?...  what do you… wait… do you mean you’ll… that you’re going to, to them?”

 

He feared they’d be able to come to this conclusion, he knew exactly what they were going to ask. They were just too mortified to finish their sentence, such a thought never having debuted in their thoughts before. With no turning back, Brainz swallowed a lump and prepared to finish their sentence, spare them at least from the uncertainty. The child managed to force it out before he had the chance to do so.

 

“-you’re going to _kill_ him?”

 

They were frightened… they looked up to Brainz for solace like a guardian with answers. It felt like gaseous cancer seeping from his mouth, he croaked.

 

“Likely.”

 

They were dumbstruck, save for incredulous noises and pieces of words that they tripped over. In the middle of their path, the child stopped walking, Brainz caught himself too. He made sure to keep the umbrella over their head despite his, now taking on rain.

“But… but… but.. But _why?!”_

The child kept this newfound distance away from him despite seeing the water cascade from his unkempt hair; the first sprout from a seed of fear for Brainz’s true colors: the aversion to his contribution to death and despair.

  


He fought to force back the dread, trying to deny its existence, explaining himself with churlish assertiveness.

“Well yeah, we’ll   _have_ to… someone’s going to die and the way I see it… it’s either _he_ gets to live or _we_ do. _All_ of us.”

 

They were frantic yet stung: they reacted indefinitely to the hostility finally being introduced to them.

“But… I don’t understand!. _Why?_ Why does _anyone_ have to die? Why do you have to kill him? Undyne would never do that!”

 

Brainz had been staving off that unusual, *pressure* behind his face for the majority of the frightful conversation, trying to keep it bogart. But he felt his grip failing when he took that blatant lie to his face, a part of him couldn’t stand putting that insufferable monster on a pedestal. A part of him… that would now overcome his decency.

 

His face scowled in a twitch, and he snapped at the child.

“What?! What made you think _that?_ ”

 

The child shrank back further at the start of this hostility, they tried to explain with dithering confidence and ascending trembling.

“Bu-bu-because she’s a hero! She only beats up bad guys and-and she never loses or hurts anyone innocent!-”

 

A full trio of seconds passed and Brainz was on the verge of rebuking them, when they changed the tone of the statement with one frail addendum.

“-Right?”

 

 _Uncertainty!_ What had he done? Brainz shuddered angrily at the aura diffusing into the air. He began to clench himself, and sought to end this before it began: completely forgetting his original goal _not_ to scar the kid for life.

 

“Yeah? What does that tell us? Didn’t you ask me yourself, what she does _AFTER_ she beats up humans? What happens to the **_bad guys?”_ **

 

His truculent glare into the child forced them to sound off, becoming quite scared.

“Uh-huhh??”

 

Brainz felt the words quaking from his mouth.

“She doesn’t just-”

Air quotes were employed with vengeance.

“*Beat them up* _Ohh_ hell no. I’m guessing you’ve never seen her go after a human before have you?-”   


He didn’t wait for an answer, he just assumed it would be a “no” or a frightened head shake.

 

“- _‘Beat them up.’_ You ever wonder why you don’t see humans running around down here? That whenever _ONE_ falls down here that it’s some kind of breaking news?”

 

He raised his voice more, exasperation turning into maliciously playful shouting.

 

“ _Extra Extra!_ Poor hapless schlub wandering around, confused out of his damn skull! Grab your torches pitchforks and blue spears and go _Get’m!!_ Humans are _bad!_ All of them! The guy that’s just frolicing down here?

 **_He’s the BAD guy!_ ** You said it yourself, Undyne beats up the _BAD_ guys, no one innocent… and when she’s done _beating them up…_ there’s probably not much left _to_ beat.”

 

There was still some shred of objection inside of the child, albeit weak and quite timorous.

“But….. but…”

 

Brainz in his current state would overlook the fact they stepped far back from him, into a cubby in the wall: he was too far to notice the tears peeking from their banks. He took the defiance personally and something abruptly burst from inside of him: the force erupted from his mouth.

 

“But _what?!_

 ** _‘HE’_** **started it!!**

**_*HE*_ ** **attacked** **_ME!”_ **

 

Brainz furiously prodded his chest, trying to be sure what “HE” actually meant at this point: Undyne? Or a self loathe towards himself? Whoever the holder of the representation: he was letting out pure frustration. Accrued and built up from the culmination of his encounters.

 

“Why’re you looking at me like that? You think **_*I*_ ** started it?! That **_*I*_ ** wanted this to happen?

_No!_

Don’t you even _dare_ think that!

 **_*I*_ ** didn’t start shit! **_*I*_ ** was minding my own business when _they_ tried to kill me! What, you think they just wanted to bruise me and leave me like some schoolyard bully?

No!

This piece of shit wanted to flat out kill me the _moment_ they got a look at me! They didn’t give me a thought or a chance or _anything_ like that! They just took one look at me and just _knew_ what to do with me!

And if it wasn’t for _this_ goddamned thing-”

The shotgun again was handled angrily.

“- I wouldn’t be sitting here, arguing with you!”

 

He quivered with fury while the child quivered with fear, neither of them saw an end in sight for his unexpected rant.

“That rotten bastard _deserves_ to die! I’d like to see him get impaled by so much blue, that he’ll look like a bloody pincushion! **_OR_ ** Or-oror… better _yet._ I wanna stick the business end of this thing into his mouth and pull the trigger!

That’s what I’ve wanted to do, now that you ask me, from the moment I saw his stupid face! Paint the walls with his brains! Just all over the friggen place-

**_BOOM!!!”_ **

 

His tone shifted once more, now into something more deranged, rather than fed up: unexpected even to him and certainly unforeseen by the poor creature, along as a spectator to the episode.

“ _Humans are nothing but garbage, ALL of them. Not a single one should be spared. All they do is lie; and hurt, and KILL, and take from you. Your things; your life, your friends, your family, EVERYTHING. They’re only useful to us when they’re DEAD, otherwise WE’RE dead. You… me, your parents, your friends, everyone. They deserve to die, every last one of them.”_

 

Brainz had uttered that last part of his soliloquy on a single breath, straining himself as it concluded and his oxygen ran scarce. He held his hunched and accusative pose for the child: teeth and fang snarled into each other, eyes spasming madly, fingers locked into claws.

Only when he began to recognize the world again, seeing the constricted eyes… the tiny pupils belonging to a tear introduced face. Only then did he take a sole powerful gasp, like a soul returning to a vessel once again: forcing life back into it. He coughed raggedly and stepped away from the child.

  


The world began to gyrate once more around him, his anchor on it had been defeated again. Brainz stumbled back dizzily as he was forced to reacquire his bearings and sense of reality for an additional time, a throbbing headache playing with his pulse brought him back faster: the reality of existing in a miserable state.

 

He was absolutely dazed, only further stupefying himself as the outburst committed itself to memory.

 

“Kid… I… I’m-”  
He struggled to comprehend how to fix this, still attempting to undo the impulse that overcame him. He tried to warm back up to them, offering the umbrella once more as he walked towards them, but they backed away with his steps.

Being that Brainz had stopped acting “crazy” to the child, they didn’t continue with a display of tears and hurt feelings, but now a familiar output to Brainz: something that would be considerably worse than the waterworks. The child defaulted their expression and spoke with apathy, similar to someone in shock.

 

“Oh… I didn’t know that…”

 

A culpable gaze looked back at them, Brainz tried to be friendly once more: almost begging that what he just did could be fixed.

“Bud? Look man, I’m sorry… I don't know what came....that stuff just gets me… _really_ mad sometimes… I wasn’t mad at-”

His gentle facade had no effect anymore, the child ignored him: still appearing inexplicably indifferent.

 

“You’re fine, if anything: I’m sorry for upsetting you… I guess I should have thought about it more…”

The child wouldn’t even look him in the eyes anymore, the fright they endured from doing so earlier probably caused this. They stood near stockstill in the rain, drenched and distant from the ‘monster’. It was as if Brainz had caused them to blow a fuse in their head, all of their emotions were _off._

 

His newfound guilt rode his return of normal feelings straight into him, it stabbed him in the gut to complement the queasiness already present. His clothes were damp, more from the clammy mess of skin underneath than the rain.

 

“Dude… I didn’t mean to lose my temper at you, it just slipped! I seriously wasn’t-”

No avail.

 

“It’s fine.”

The child actually turned to face him, and that was all they had to say along with their look, there was nothing else. Brainz had to come to terms with what he was looking at; that nothing he would do from this point would ‘fix’ it. He did exactly what he was trying not to do again; ‘breaking’ his ‘friend’.

It felt like broken glass churning in his stomach, not the guilt from what he did to the child: No… that was the venom enriched blade piercing into his _other_ insides. _This_ horrid feeling was ironic as it was physically sickening him, he’d probably throw up if he had anything _to_ throw up. Sickening irony.

After meeting Undyne firsthand, all Brainz desired for them: was downfall. A vengeful comeuppance that would mirror the misery they’d brought upon him, so what better way to deliver it than by poisoning one of their most devoted fans? Something less blunt and direct, but more subtly vicious. While it wouldn’t result in their demise, surely the turmoil and dissonant faith loss would let him limp on with a smirk on his face knowing he tainted someone’s life for years to come.  

Brainz had impressed upon someone: his view on Undyne. The only creature who empathized with him was beginning to see the world like he did, he could have started something that would give him a true companion: a real confidant.  Their eyes would truly open for the first time, and at such a young age.

 

So why did it feel so bittersweet? Why did relieving this child of their hindering ignorance feel so… detestable?

Brainz had gotten _exactly_ what he wanted and something had gone _exactly_ the way he wanted it to go, something actually went his way for once… and now that it was too late to cancel it: he regretted ever wanting it. It was the same story every time he was “successful” he wouldn’t get to consider the consequences of what he did until they came to him firsthand, when it was already too late to repent.

 

Now that he thought of it?

All he’d done was infect an innocent child with deceptive empathy, and even less so: all he had _really_ done was cave in and give his misery what it wanted.

_Company._

  


With the conclusion one of his “What have I done?” sighs: Brainz opened himself for the backlash, to take his overdue lumps.

“Are you okay?”

The question was bland and depressed, as if he already knew the answer he’d get: but asking was still obligatory. It went to its knees, clapped its hands together and begged the child that Brainz gave a shit about them.

 

“Yeah… I’m just…”

The child looked off into the distance from where they came, looking for the words to finish their sentence: but forgetting that they had a sentence to finish. It was exactly what Brainz had predicted, and because of that: he knew now what to say… and how the conversation would play out. He robbed the child not only of their innocence, but of the unpredictability that lingered in everything down here. Go him: Brainz finished their sentence for them with the same flatness.

 

“You have a lot on your mind now, don’t you?”

 

“Uh-huh… that’s it.”

They nodded, still looking into the path they traveled.

 

Brainz nodded himself.

“That’s okay then… do you want to keep walking? Or do you need a minute to think? It’s OK if you-”

 

Interrupted, at least he was given eye contact.

“Yeah sure… we should keep going.”

 

Brainz held out the umbrella cordially to rekindle the trust they had in him, but he half expected the futility, it wasn’t too much of a blow when it was declined.

“I’m fine, you can have it.”

 

With that, the child began to walk again, out of the small depression in the wall and into the pouring rain. Brainz took a couple of looks at the selfishly employed umbrella and let it fall to the ground, so that both of them could be downtrodden by the rain, a symbol of discarded trust.

* * *

 

They walked.

 

No more interaction between them; no friendly arguments or unfriendly in that matter.

 

There was nothing with the exception of the cold liquid from above, the air felt heavier than before. It was too oppressive to feel peaceful anymore, so much that he couldn’t close his eyes and ease himself… so…

“Uhm… is there something you still need to know? Like, just to make sure I didn’t confuse you? Or Uuhherr..”

 

Still trying to backpedal, Brainz had somehow inverted their roles, now he was the one barely managing to sound out a sheepish question, fearful of the response it would garner.

 

“No, it’s fine… we don’t have to talk anymore, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

 

He deserved that, Brainz didn’t even attempt to follow up the burn...

so they just walked.

 

(...)

 

They’d passed one of the recorder flowers without so much as acknowledging it, Brainz allowed that despite how much it bothered him however, Brainz wouldn’t keep himself from speaking up when they entered the most astronomical room he had ever stepped into.

 

He looked off into an actual horizon that appeared in the distance, an almost infinite plane of “stars” decorated the greatest cavern ceiling above a sea of so many shades of absolute blue. To top off this entire sight, an entire castle sat sat beyond the sea in the distance. It was nothing short of astonishing and withholding anything to say about it would drive him _more_ insane than he already was.

It was as if the world was trying much too hard to get to him with these ridiculous sights, incentivized to punish him for what he had done so far: outdoing itself during the lone period where he _had_ to keep it to himself.

He was _antsy…_  to say the least, but he knew asking what the hell he was looking at would be one of his more stupid ideas. More stupid than forgetting the request to withhold any conversation.

 

“Hey… um, does this view always look like this when you go this way? I’ve never seen the… castle so… cool looking before?"

Even if the attempt at small talk wasn’t cringe worthy, it wouldn’t have done much, the child peeked away from ground for only a moment. They made it obvious that all they heard was “noise” being overcome by whatever thoughts Brainz forced into them.

 

“Hmm? Oh, yeah… I guess.”

No answers for Brainz, he deserved that too. Brainz could have been speaking in italian and he would have earned the same response. He wasn’t going to get anything further from the child, and that was all his fault: he had no one else to berate for disadvantaging himself.... except himself. Which he did, so much in his head in fact: that he began to ignore the world too. He did this, with the child… until something in his peripheral vision,made him look up to see that the kid was on course to acquaint their face with a poorly placed wall just ahead.

 

He tried to get their attention by shouting a warning, but with the disarray in his head: all he’d manage to do was splutter some unintelligible noises, that weren’t even loud enough to do so. A reflex bypassed his scrambled mind and Brainz went frantically to grab the child before their face-

 

-met with the wall, the wind recoiled out of them with an audible “ _Oof!”_ The child fell flat on their back like a domino, and only lay there panting and blinking their eyes afterwards: the wall was more of a surprise it seemed, than Brainz’s horrible conditioning.

 

Brainz, winced loudly and went to help the kid up.

“Oh shit! are you alright?”

  


The fact that the child let him actually touch them again, and the noise they made after getting up: gave Brainz something new to obsess over. The very distinct possibility he had indirectly inflicted this child with a concussion.

“Huhhh?”

 

He let his weapon clatter to the ground, according the possessive hand the task of supporting the child’s sizeable head to prevent them from succumbing to potentially compromised inner equilibrium. Brainz held up his other hand right before their harmed face and held his fingers erect. His tone had been completely overthrown by something frightened and solicitous.

 

“Can you tell me how many fingers I’m holding up?”

  


Again, he was given another confused noise, but actual words followed it.

“Whaa… _fingers_?”

 

Brainz felt one of his eyes twitch violently, he turned his head away from the child for a brief moment.

“Fuck!”

Despite just breaking his personal ordinance on openly swearing in front of the child, Brainz made sure it wouldn’t be heard. Like it would make any difference at this point, but still: Brainz didn’t have the luxury to validate himself at the moment.

 

He went right back to the child’s aid, looking back at them: they seemed to have recovered from the impact. Brainz refused to believe what he saw however: he attempted to further his analysis of the kid, pressing their faces especially close together so that he could examine their pupils, without any consent of course.

 

“Dude… _what…_ .. Are you, _doing?”_

It was the first emotion the child expressed after Brainz “broke” them, they were still confused… but not from a traumatic brain injury, more from how Brainz was trying to treat them.

 

“Hold still! And look at me! I gotta look into your eyes! Oh god, I’m so sorry, so so sorry!-”

 

“What? Why? Dude, lemme go.”

Brainz all but ignored the kid. This, along with the weird behavior and handling of them: further agitated the child. The squirming exacerbated into struggling now, struggling to get out of Brainz’s grip.

 

“- Please _Hold still!_ I gotta… I just gotta see! Does it hurt much? Do you feel pressure? Are you dizzy at all? Do you remember my name? I’m really sorry! But I can help you, I promise! I can fix it! Please! Just-just just let me, Just let me-”

 

It became a full out thrash at this point, anxiety and anger began to boil between the both of them.

 _“BRAINZ!_ **_STOP!!”_ **

 

They yelled as loud as they could manage, loud enough to eradicate the possibility for Brainz to ignore it. His ears would ring for a bit just to assure how loud they needed to scream to get him to listen.

 

He ceased immediately, unlocked his grip (To which the child jumped away just as quickly) and backed away slowly and delicately.  

 

“Dude, like _seriously!_ Like, _what_ are you like, _doing?!-”_

The silver lining in this was this child most certainly did not endure a concussion from the impact, they were much to coherent and angry.

“You are _really_ starting to creep me out, yo! What the heck was _that?!_ ”

 

Brainz legs did all but give out from beneath him: sending him down to his knees, a shivering mess of a person. The solicitous tone quivered with him, becoming far more drawn back and apologetic than ever.

 

“I-i-i, j-just wanted to make s-sh-ure you were o-okay…

I di-duh-duh-didn’t mean to h-ha-hurt you, I didn’t muh-mean to…

I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I hurt you! I didn’t mean to.. I..I..”

His despair continued to spill out, losing its intelligibility with every reiteration of “I’m sorry.” He could’ve accomplished some sympathy with his dramatic display, but his past episodes lead the child to roll their eyes and sigh quite loudly.

 

“Oh my g- _Uuugh!_ Dude!... Like come _Ooon!_ all I did was bump into the wall! It didn’t even hurt that much!”

 

Brainz stopped running his pitiful act, but only moving up to a pitiful question.

“I thought… I thought I gave you a concussion because of what I did to you… that I caused you pain… that I _hurt_ you.”

 

Once again, he didn’t earn any pity out of the child: only another exasperated grunt.

“Ok… _One:_ I don’t even know what that means, what the flip is a concussion?

 _Two:_ You didn’t _do_ anything, yo. That was my fault because I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, I _knew_ this ledge was coming up.

And _Three… like:_ Mannn, why are you wigging out so hard about me? Right now, you are _soo_ sounding just like my parents, like _really_ much. They already worry like _way way_ too much about me, so you don’t gotta do that either…”

 

Brainz regained his footing slowly, apprehensive and careful with his movements like a humbled dog confronted after making a mistake. The kid bent over slightly, if the had limbs: Brainz imagined they would be placed assertively on their hips.

 

“I mean like… _dude,_ you get like so wound up about _everything!_ Me; the human; you being weird… I don’t even wanna know what you parents do to you."

 

Brainz swallowed something hard.

“ _My_ parents?”

 

The child nodded their head with impudence, as if Brainz’s obliviousness called for it.

“Well yeah! Duh doii! I complained about mine so much, but from how you get… yours must be _so_ much worse than mine, they probably don’t even know you’re out here fighting humans too: do they? They'd probably freak out like you!"

 

Brainz picked up his weapon again, and with it: his coldness. He sought to end this subject immediately, god forbid he complicate it with lies or yarns. He was blatant.

“My parents are dead...”

 

The sass completely slipped out of the little monster’s grip and their eyes widened as their momentum skid to a halt.

“Ohh… really??”

 

Brainz nodded grimly, his perpetual frown reformed onto his face, and his voice went back to a somber drone.

“Yeah…I live alone... it's just me. They... they've been dead for a long time so.... I wouldn't know how to answer your question... sorry."

 

The kid exhaled sharply, _now_ they were beginning to show sympathy: some guilt too.

“Oh… I’m sorry yo, I wouldn't have brought that up If I-"

 

Brainz didn’t let them finish, he shook his head with some aggression to shake out his psyche, his emotions were shut off again.

“It’s fine… you didn’t know, and I didn’t know your thing.”

 

The child wanted to try again to morally rectify themselves.

“I didn’t know you were always alone dude! Like don't you have any friends? Don't you-"

 

“I said I’m fine, can we just… _end_ it? We gotta keep going and it looks like we gotta backtrack.”

 

The child was ultimately unsatisfied with the premature conclusion, but still respected the request to drop the topic lest they further upset or offend their ‘friend’. However, they still had an objection to what Brainz said.

“Well...Nah man, you just gotta climb up there.”

 

Brainz straightened himself out and tried to gain an inch by standing on his toes, his left foot wouldn’t allow that still. He winced, turning the pain into subtle frustration.

“ _This?_ This is the way we’re supposed to go? I don’t see a ladder or anything.”

 

The kid shrugged with their head, looking around as they thought of something. Then exclaimed when an idea came to them.

“Oh! Here-”

They pressed themselves against the small cliff.

“- why don’t you hop up on my shoulders and climb up?”

 

“Absolutely not.”

Brainz disagreed only in his thoughts, while he wouldn’t openly admit it: there was no way he was going to do that.

“Ahh, well I appreciate the offer, but… uhhhm-”

 

He saw the child’s face drop back into a frown and felt a tinge of agitation in his inner rebuttal as he prolonged his “uhms” and “uhhs.”

“I seriously don’t want to do anymore damage to this kid… if I do that, I’ll break their freaking neck, and if I _don’t,_ now I’ve upset them again… can I _ever_ avoid this?”

 

He held the noise.

“-Uuuuuhm….. But-”

Then he cleared his throat and took some air when he had an idea of what to say, he’d taken another look at the cliff: it wasn’t _too_ daunting, only an inch or two above him.

 

“ _But…_ that won't be necessary.”

 

The child held onto their frown as Brainz approached the stone wall, he took the duffel bag off of his back and swung it by the straps in a pendular motion. With a grunt, he tossed it onto the level above, the shotgun was next and Brainz placed it and slid it away from the edge of the ground. Then he braced himself for what _he_ was about to do. Well… he sighed, when he actually considered what he was about to do in his condition.

Both of his hands clamped onto the ground above and Brainz scaled the wall. To his surprise, the surface was actually quite soft and easy to grip into, even with a hurt ankle. When he recollected his things on the top, it was no wonder the kid was unscathed from running into the wall.

 

“Whoa! Dude, how did you _do_ that yo?”

Brainz wiped his hands on his pants and looked down at the kid.

“It’s just a little bit of core strength, nothing much.”

 

It seemed the kid reverted back to their normal, jubilant self. They spoke with that grin wearing exuberance.

“Okay! Well, you can keep going down that way, and you’ll run into her, _I’m_ going to find another way around, but don’t worry if I don’t get there before you find her.”

 

They immediately started off in the direction backwards before Brainz could even object, dumbfounded by the abruptness. He got to his knees again and tried to call for them.

“Wait, what? What’re you-

Kid, _wait!_ I can just pull you up! Come back!”

 

They didn’t hear him, they continued to shrink into the darkness of the path: their cheerful voice echoed back to Brainz.

“Don’t worry! I know another way around! _Good Luck!!”_

 

Brainz tried one more time, he cupped his hand to his mouth and called out.

“ _WAIT, COME BACK!! I CAN JUST…. Pull!_ You… up… goddammit!”

 

He was too sure that they were out of hearing before he drooped his head in exasperation.

“Well… I guess they _are_ back to normal, going off like that before I can even say ‘what the fuck?’”

 

Brainz sighed and wound himself down physically… but mentally he was starting himself back up.

“They’ve gotta be onto me now… they were awful yearning to haul themself away from me… probably just waiting for the opportunity where I wouldn’t follow them… fucking hell.”

 

He relayed this returning paranoia outside of his thoughts again, it didn’t matter anymore: being that he was his lone audience.

 

_Hiya pal… how’re you doing? It’s been a while huh?  You look like you’re about done spilling your secrets to a stupid kid: probably on their way to snitch on you for being you. But, how ARE you?”_

 

The voice of sardonic self loathing was there the moment Brainz couldn’t see the yellow speck anymore, and once Brainz was sure they were gone: he let himself loose by yelling at himself

“I wasn’t going to start fucking talking to myself when this kid was _right there,_ if you’re gonna start complaining about me fucking myself over, you think seeing me hold a conversation with myself would look any better?!”

 

_If it would keep you from your little freakouts back there, then yeah! You probably WOULD be better off talking to yourself. They’re still stupid, you could've told them you were talking to your imaginary friend for all you care and they woulda bought it! But no…. Why listen to your own instincts… CLEARLY when you make your own choices, everything turns out just PEACHY. Mmm-hmm, Absolutely frolic in a field of flowers fantastic._

 

It was especially demeaning to him because it was true, getting reviled and in such a condescending manner from his own thoughts was more insulting than being lied to his face.

 

“Will you just, shut the _fuck UP already?!_ This is already hard enough without you fucking judging me! There’s a good reason why I don’t listen to you half the time!”

 

_Who’re you referring to? You’re yelling at YOURSELF! But fine… you want to assume I’m someone else? FINE… but tell me this…_

_Who do you think I am?  If I’m not you, then who am I? Whatever I am, here’s what we know: I’m pretty much the only reason you’re still alive, you moron… : and all I want to do is ensure your survival, that’s it! But you treat me like I’m some malignant demon trying to urge you to your death! You want to know who I actually am?_

_It's more like who WAS I?  And the answer to that is YOU, I WAS you, back when you were sane that is... remember that when you let me make the decisions because we were the same guy?_

_But now that you've split into two I'm not much more than a little something called WELL-BEING.... I'm your wellbeing, BRAINZ!_

 

Brainz angrily swung his arms to gesture to noone, insulted and angry: beyond skeptical.

 

“Wellbeing… Wellbeing?! I have wellbeing?! _Me?!... You?!_ ** _WELL?!?!_** _WELL_ people don’t talk to themselves like this! _WELL_ people don’t have to carry around a small armaments factory! _WELL_ people don’t show up on the Christmas special on crime shows! And _WELL_ people…”

 

With the most emphasis he could give, Brainz struck himself on his forehead with each word.

“ _DON’T_

 _  
_ _FUCKING_

_FALL_

_INTO_

_FUCKING_

**_MONSTER HOLES!!”_ **

 

With the solitary sound of his panting, he let the circumstances rush into his head while the blood rushed out. He wasn’t awfully thrilled with himself, so much that his voice squeaked a near plaintive expression of introspection as he panted for composure.

 

“Jesus christ, look at me.... I’m freaking unraveling here, I’m falling apart at my seams!

Ohh.. god…”

 

The self induced trauma to his forehead reminded him of his bodily ailments predating it, he’d evolved into a thoroughgoing migraine while anything below his neck felt like they were made of bruises. What he’d just uttered may have had some ancillary meaning to it. He grunted loudly, and tried to push away the pain. Something slimy began to run down his lip.  


“OK… OK… can’t let this win… can’t let _them_ win… I gotta keep moving: no matter how much it’s starting to hurt.”

 

A deep breath confirmed the subject change, and he instantly perked up his attitude, pressing on while he smeared some of the nosebleed off to his sleeve.

“I _will_ get out of here, stupid monster kid tattling on me or not, because of _this.”_

 

He racked his shotgun again, just to hear the distinct noise it made, Brainz caught the unused shell and reloaded it back into the gun.

“I’ll fucking kill anyone who tries to stop me… just you wait.”

  


Being alone once more wasn’t fun: actually alone this time, the argumentative thoughts seemed humbled from the outburst. It was seldom he could recognize being all by himself...it wasn’t without silver lining though: Brainz had once again, the freedom to his own doings: only judged by himself. What better to remind him of this than another pair of blue exposition signs plastered on the wall? He desperately craved a distraction from his mental unbinding just a minute ago.Brainz ran right up to the jumbled text: the illegible nonsense reminding him to cover his one eye, he gave a single chuckle full of hope.

“Thank god… gimme something to think about, I don’t even care if it’s bullshit, just gimme some bullshit that questions this place’s sanity… not mine.”

 

_The humans, afraid of our power, declared war on us. They attacked suddenly, and without mercy._

 

He didn’t feel any better from that, and further scowled as he moved on to his second chance.

 

_In the end, it could hardly be called a war. United, the humans were too powerful and us monsters, too weak. Not a single SOUL was taken and countless monsters were turned to dust..._

 

Brainz scoffed, calm but with implied outage.

“Really? Like… _really?_

Here I’m actually _wanting_ something that doesn’t make any sense for once, because it’d actually be nice… but no.

Not only does it make absolute sense... for the first time more likely... just to spite me… but it’s trying to guilt trip me now?”

 

Then he wasn’t so calm, he took the text personally and openly accused it of thought crime… _his_ assumptive thoughts, that is.

“You’re try’n-ta guilt trip me now? These stupid signs are try’n-ta make me feel bad? Some psycho-anl-... eerrr…. _Whatever,_ bullshit? Ok…. sure.”

 

Obviously the words before him preceded his visit by a long stretch: but in his current state it seemed appropriate to assume everything in this cavern was built to spite him. He didn’t take it well at all, not that he was in any mood to handle it any better.

 

“Oh yeah, sure-”

Sarcasm kicked in, heavily exaggerated

“- _*The_ ** _BIG BAD_** **_human_** _*_ of _couuuurse! YOU_ guys didn’t start _shit!_

Mmm-hmm! _Suuure!_ That’s _exactly_ what’s going on… thanks for keeping me updated!”

 

Brainz stormed off, away from the text screens.

“Man, fuck this shit!

Fucking assholes… I don’t even know what’s their fucking problem… but I don’t gotta take this… I am _so_ done trying to be nice anymore if they’re just gonna try to make me-

 

Wait a sec.”

 

His momentum stopped along with his footsteps, he had stopped because similar to earlier occurrences: Brainz couldn’t rant and walk at the same time, at least not while paying attention to where he was going. He found himself staring at nothing… and awful lot of nothing, at that. He was nonchalant about this.

 

“Huh….”

Brainz looked all around for a general bearing on this obviously new chamber he stepped into, but it was all the more the same as what he saw ahead: nothing. He couldn’t even see the castle off into the distance anymore: it looked as if  all of the fake stars that illuminated it from aloft had just gone out, _that…_ or the enormous room that housed it wasn’t actually _enormous,_ more so an optical illusion… that castle could have been no more than a decal painted on the wall by some pretentious monster wearing a big grin on their face… probably-

 

“No, that’s ridiculous… stop that, I’m supposed to be getting out of here… not overthinking this place. If anyone asks, castle just magically disappeared or I went through an invisible teleporter or something… _some_ form of spatial anomaly… good enough, I guess.”

 

The only thing he _could_ see, was the ground at his very feet when he looked down: more boardwalk and almost as awful an amount as the nothingness it contested to fill. Brainz was openly skeptical and refused to proceed, he crossed his arms and took a heavier look around.

 

“Uhhh-huh…. Y’know this is quite similar to the _last_ boardwalk I went across… except there’s noo…”

 

He peered into the abyss below, infinitely long support beams sprouting from it, his eyebrow raised higher.

“Liquid black… just _regular_ black…”

 

Then he took a sharp breath and smacked his lips as his shotgun peered around with him.

“But what’s _really_ throwing me off here is probably the lack of blue shit flying at my face while some armor wearing cunt throws them at me… that’s probably the thing I remember the most from the last…. Err..”

 

He looked back ahead at the wooden path stretching into the poor visibility.

“Boardwalk leading into absolutely fucking nowhere.”

 

As scornful as he was, beyond skeptical too, he couldn’t find anything to suggest Undyne would be here, he looked everywhere: from back to the ledge where his company departed (He was able to treat himself to the view of the castle again… spatial anomaly), to under his own feet, but… he was truly alone, quite happy too.

 

“Well alright then! Okay! This is actually fine by me.”

 

He walked until the visibility from behind took away the dirt path and matched with the black haze ahead. Brainz wanted to complain of the darkness pairing with a lack of safety railings as he squinted with the meager bit of light he was given… but something flashed right before his eyes, literally inches from taking his face off.

 

When his retinas closed some and he realized what color it was… the thing that had burst from the ground no less… he was frank with himself.

“Fuck…”

 

* * *

 

Brainz ripped ahead, no longer alone but trailed by a procession of spears rapidly splintering from the ground, sounding like machine gun fire. As he sprinted for life, a dictionary of every sordid word he knew ran through his head, even making up some words to describe the amount of pain his foot was experiencing from the strain.

 

As if circumstance wasn’t bad enough, the recollection of the previous boardwalk became much more lucid as the ground he needed to rapidly traverse as to _not_ die horribly, twisted into even more convoluted shapes and lines: it was a spitting image of his first encounter. Minus the fact Undyne was inexplicably _below_ him this time, rather than at a position where the shotgun Brainz had hyped up so much could actually _do_ something.

“Oh _c’moooOOOON!_ Give me a _fucking BREAK!!!”_

Brainz screamed over the swear words in his head, he stumbled, fumbled, near tripped, and leapt over bottomless gaps as the blue harm tried to impale him from below. He traversed the path with the grace of an enraged bull and the frantic pace of a frightened horse with gout. Every family of sweat coarsed over his skin, some heat from running a marathon in a sweater, a hefty amount of overexertion… but mostly stress.

 

The architecture was all over the place, nonsensical designs stricken with abysmal visibility and robbed of adequate time for judgement, these vile planks and twisted footpaths were built with the sole purpose of putting a handicap on whoever found themselves on top. Whoever lay below trying to skewer the poor soul, had the convenience of trying until they caught something… no consequence or repercussion, just sport for them.

 

Desperation grabbed at Brainz’s ailing heart, all means to enter it were constricted: the horrid pains of exhaustion and human limitation were to be held at bay for as long as possible. Each leap of faith and balance compensation he performed pushed him just beyond his capacity, and the chance for his heart to relent and shut down increased as more physical reality began to slip through. In the end, either his heart would give out, or he’d make too much of an error on a jump or dodge as his perception dropped… his heart would stop beating either way.

 

Just as the bleakness began to set in, through the pinholes in his blurring vision: Brainz could recognize the foot space ahead growing to an enormous size, a gargantuan platform devoid of holes or nonsensical detours. A bout of blinded aspiration released a burst of adrenaline all throughout him, Brainz looked down to his feet and felt his pace forcibly increase… soon the expeditious sound of wood piercing death shrank away from behind. For just those frantic moments, Brainz could’ve given himself the hopeful thought that he’d actually evade this monster.

 

When the sounds not belonging to him ceasing, Brainz took his attention off from his feet and to where he was, he soaked in the lack of blue as he kept running, which he did… all until he finally looked where he was going. When he finally looked ahead… Brainz slammed his feet to the ground, the sudden jolt of painful pressure on his ankle broke through his desperate tolerance and he fell. Rolling and tumbling until the very last of his momentum expired… mere inches away from a dead end in the path, the end of the line. Nothing but **_nothing_ ** lay ahead. 

 

Dizzy, pain erupting all over, and out of breath… Brainz choked on his wheezes for air, exhaling them with ragged painful coughs carrying exasperation.

“You’ve… gotta be…. Fucking… **_KIDDING ME!!!!”_ **

 

To punish him further for having hope, he looked up from his crumpled body to see that familiar color clutched tightly by the very thing that tormented him: standing on the same path as him… it took the perfect amount of time between its slowed and exaggerated steps towards him. Perfect, in instilling beyond the highest capacity for terror. Undyne proceeded slower and slower, each step causing a higher degree of hyperventilation and tachycardia for the convulsing mess trying to get to his feet.   

 

He helplessly glanced to every conceivable angle, madly desperate for any form of escape or reprieve, there was nothing to save him this time. Except for the thing he clutched so dearly for his life, so instead of avoiding Undyne: he'd try intimidation.

 

“ _YOU!_

Stay the **_FUCK_ ** away from me!”

 

His demands were more similar to aggressive pleas, they were ignored with each step closing the distance towards him. Brainz violently thrashed with the weapon in his hands, giving one final warning to full effort.

“ **_BACK!_ **

**_I FUCKING_ ** **_MEAN_ ** **_IT!!!”_ **

 

The space between him and his mortality shrank further, regardless of how hard he screamed and how much his firearm trembled. The gelid sensation of acute helplessness reached its limit… and then something happened. The clench on his blazing heart dissipated, allowing the massive culmination of stress and despair to completely overtake him… it numbed everything. The monster before him lurched into a sprint,, keen to take the life from him… seeing the blue grow closer… something inside of Brainz _sparked,_ igniting everything into a fervent rage.

 

His eyes dilated, black pupils completely overshadowing the natural color of his irises, skin reddened as veins throbbed and showed their prominence below the clammy exterior. The cornered animal snapped into action with a guttural cry. He screamed as loud as he could, the roar scraped his vocal chords. Brainz slammed his bag to the ground and with less hindrance, forthwith charged right back at Undyne.

 

**_*BLAM!!!*_ **

**_*BLAM!!!*_ **

**_*KA-BLAM!!!!*_ **

 

Shell after shell was ejected from the weapon as it relentlessly ripped the armor away in front of it. Undyne’s pace had been completely disintegrated along with their breastplate, and with the momentum turned around: they were on the receiving end for more punishment.

 

They did try try to recover from the sudden traumatizing counter-force, but before they could even straighten to put up a fight: an equally powerful blunt force bashed them side of their head, the helmet did little to cushion it.

 

Brainz turned his gun around and swung it like a baseball bat, the butt of the gun manipulating Undyne’s head left to right with each blow: the force much too great to endure without repercussion.

**_*SMACK!*_ **

**_*SMACK!*_ **

**_*SMACK!!*_ **

 

Every hit  _* **pinged!***_ with the sound of metallic reverberation, Undyne's helmet was more like a metal trashcan being hit with golf clubs rather than armor.

Brainz continued to wail away at Undyne, blow after blow with his improvised club, the only foreseeable stop to this would be when Undyne would stop struggling to hold balance or the gun would break in half eventually trying.

 

In the heat of this, Brainz continued venting the exhaust from the flames within him as a prolonged scream. It would last simultaneously with his breath… but both would be cut off abruptly before their natural limits.

 

During the fifteenth swing for Undyne’s head: Brainz found himself cut off from oxygen as he felt two cold bodies clamp on his neck quite suddenly, they only felt colder as they forced themselves closer, effectively closing off his windpipe.

 

The ground became segregated from his feet, Undyne corrected themselves and lifted Brainz high into the air by his throat. His shotgun turned bat clattered to the ground as his hands went for his neck to save their owner. Over his feeble gasps and retches and sounds of his thrashing body, the sound of deep and heavy breaths eminanting from Undyne’s helmet just inches from Brainz’s face would add insult to this.

 

Everything began to drift away, his body began to feel increasingly distant… much further and Brainz would separate from it, his hands felt yards away as they slumped to his hips _defeated_ as another contraction forced more life out of him from the chokehold. A hand, now _miles_ away from his body, dangled near lifelessly against his pocket… against a hard impression of what lay inside.

 

Something long and slender, like a handle…

 

A final surge of consciousness brought all of his limbs back to him, a much closer hand dove into his back pocket and grabbed the once forgotten switchblade from its resting place, Brainz shot the blade out of its handle by its trigger and brought it even closer than before, closer to _him,_ and _much_ closer to Undyne: by plunging the blade into the left eye slit of the helmet with all his remaining might and fury.

 

The hold on his neck began to fall through, the embargo of oxygen had a perforation as his windpipe opened up again. Everything rushed back to Brainz as he gasped back to life, the first freedom he had with his second chance involved thrashing the knife in Undyne’s eye, jostling and punching it further into the helmet.

 

Undyne’s grip completely failed, both of the choking gauntlets delegated themselves to remove the blade, completely unmindful of the human they just released. Brainz fell to the ground and only remain there for an additional gasp, he took the chance to grab his weapon again as he got right back up. With the knife still bore into their eye, Undyne let one of the gauntlets try vainly to continue the fight by grabbing the weapon that had just been thrust into their exposed chest. Brainz pulled the trigger just as Undyne closed a grip on the barrel.

 

The sound it made was near deafening… and the visual that came with it was unlike any that had ever been conceived from it. Along with the brilliant flash of orange and red striking from the muzzle… a massive cloud of pure white dust flowered into the air… it did this from the open hole in Undyne’s chestplate… and in the new hole it bore through Undyne and their back.

 

Undyne was thrown back viscously from the blast, the one gauntlet still remained affixed to the weapon: torn off as the weapon and them separated with force. Miraculously, Undyne’s footing did not falter and for but a moment: Brainz would be able to observe what he had done… by gazing behind Undyne through the melon sized perforation in their chest. He wasn’t content to stare in awe and before he could run to topple Undyne, they fell to the ground on their own accord, their armor clattering to the ground in cacophonous percussion

  


Brainz stormed right up to the downed foe, his good foot slammed down onto the planks: impaling Undyne through the wound in their midriff. He could recognize persisting signs of life as Undyne convulsed wretchedly by the action. Brainz twisted and thrashed his foot around inside, causing more pained erratic movements. Every determined motion from this monster to get up was met with a stomp to pin them right back down. Brainz just merely laughed all deranged like, and continued to scrape his foot around inside of Undyne like putting out a cigarette. His voice was struck with the worst of burdens, hoarse and raspy from the strangulation attempt forming a bruise on his neck. It was… beyond sardonic… joyful and sadistic.

 

“ _Awwwwh!_ Look at _you!_

S’pretty-”

 

He snarled fiercely and pounded his leg into the wound again, he’d do this everything he yelled again.

“ **_FUCKING_ ** ironic isn’t it? Y’know… how the last time we both found ourselves on a dock it was you holding-

**_ME_ **

To the ground! Remember? I fell over and you were about to-

**_KILL ME?!_ **

Oh ho ho man… I don’t know what hurts worse for you-

**_MY FOOT?!_ **

Oh the-

**_FUCKING IRONY?!_ **

You **_STUPID_ **

**_MOTHA-_ **

**_FUCKA!”_ **

 

Even as he tore his foot out of the hole, dust powdering up to his knee: Brainz lost his demented joy seeing Undyne continue to struggle. After some painful hacks and coughs from the developing laryngitis, he loudly roared exasperating.

 

“Oh come _OOOOON!_ How are you even still _ALIVE_ for fucks sakes?!”

 

He looked to his one hand clutching his weapon and called out with realization and returning sadism.

“ _Ooooh!_ Silly me! I forgot to blow your fucking brains out all over the floor!! I forgot you fucking earned it!”

 

**_*KA-CHUNK!*_ **

He racked the gun and prodded it right up to the eye slit staring up at him, his silver fang glistened in the company of his ear to ear grin, adorned with red eyes and flushed cheeks.

 

“Ooooh, _yeaah!_ I’ve wanted to do this for a _looong_ time! And-”

 

Brainz looked up with a thought, then laughed again… amused.

“Y-know what? Why don’t we just get rid of this helmet keeping us apart? S’not like it’ll save you or anything… that huge gaping hole in you kinda proves that… but I just wanna see the look on your face… while you still have one… just that last look before you die!”

Brainz wiggled all of his fingers just to mock Undyne before firmly grabbing the helmet at its end, in the midst of his pleasure however… a peculiar thought began to beg for attention: he had put both of his hands on the helmet… and none on the shotgun. A simple mistake from being over eager for his sick game. It’d become far more complicated when he turned away to pick it back up again.

 

**_*KER-SMACK!*_ **

 

No sooner did he grab his weapon by the glove still wrenched around it, did two metal boots slam into his gut: he flew through the air while the wind yelped out of him. Brainz’s body stopped tumbling right at the lip on the dock again, the glove attached to the weapon departed as it careened down below into the darkness.

 

This was the final straw… the amazing level of confusion and bewilderment tied in with the ungodly stabbing pain taking over his body. It all twisted into _more_ fury, Brainz groaned painfully and furiously as his body stood itself up for a final time in recovery. The sight before him instilled _even more_ rage, as Undyne charged at him one last time, completely ignoring the damage he had done to them, without so much as a stagger in their step.

The shotgun let out it’s final round in defiance, the explosion serving as the ultimate exclamation to this battle. Direct hit, another point blank shot: this time right into Undyne’s helmet just as planned before…. Only _this_ time, the gigantic lance they wielded: returned the damage. The force from the buckshot caused the jagged weapon to veer off course from Brainz’s rampant heart… deviating right into his shoulder blade, puncturing his flesh.

 

He didn’t fall over, he _couldn’t_ fall over, not like this, agony tore into his arm and screamed out of his mouth as he stumbled backwards. Undyne all but fell over again from the blow collapsing into Brainz and sending him further into a fall. But he wouldn’t have it… his feet played dependable until the very end, backing up as his body reached madly for balance….

 

… Until his bad ankle collided with his discarded bag… precariously balancing right at the edge of the platform, and while _it_ didn’t depart from the brink of falling… Brainz did, taking his weapon with him as motes of dust and violent screams trailed behind him. An outstretched arm protruding from the platform above soon devolved into a blue and brown speck, before shrinking away into the darkness.

  
  
  



	10. Unsought Reinforcements

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now now, there is no need to fight.
> 
> If you look deep inside yourself, you're all friends already.  
> All you need is a common enemy.

The darkness subsided once again, a scream rang out from its depleting clutches, shrill and ear piercing for all to wince at.

“C’mon you fucking jagoff! What’re you, Helen Keller?! Sirens mean: get out of the goddamned way!”

 

Mordegrid had resorted to the device on top of his unmarked cruiser right when he left the single laned tunnel. He’d been using it on and off just to get his way whenever the traffic wasn’t moving quite fast enough. He was well aware of the policies being violated, but the level of frustration and urgency put those away.

 

“God… these people are just _retarded…_ the hell do they think the left lane is for? Driving ten _under_ the limit? It’s the goddamned passing lane… but regardless of what it is: it _should_ be the “Oh shit! There’s a cop behind be who wants me to get my slow ass out of the way” lane!”

 

It was like this the entire trip… all sixteen grueling hours on the road, but Mordgerid hadn’t begun the unregulated use of his lights and siren until his crossing through Western New York just a ways back, the people there had time, time to _kill,_ and the way they drove… they assumed everyone else had this kind of time. Mordegrid was quite obviously, an exception to this: he wouldn’t stand for it.

 

It would all pay off though when he’d get there, everything.… the collection of fast food wrappers strewn about his vehicle, sealed bottles of urine rolling around, seventy dollars spent on gasoline. All of these lackluster luxuries were nothing compared to the time he made, it gave him a smirk to see the “ETA 2 DAYS”  Printed on his directions, when he was about to arrive in less than twenty hours by himself. He’d been told countless times from just about everyone of his so called “Friends” and “Allies” to stay home and just _watch_ this operation perform under standards… the _insolence!_ What good would the senior specialist of this case be if he didn’t actually _deal_ with his case?! Certainly not Mordegrid and god forbid behind a computer screen hundreds of miles away.

 

Mordegrid buzzed his lips to spite everyone back at his office, what did _they_ know? They obviously didn’t care about protecting their own people anymore, despite it being their _jobs._ They must’ve assumed that sometime throughout the years, that Mordegrid would _never_ catch the elusive “Suspect Omega” He could almost argue, calling this a lost cause was borderline _treason._ As far as he was concerned, he was the only one actually _looking_ for the perp now. None of the smug pricks back in the office… well…. Him and the three hundred men deployed out here.

 

“This is Mordegrid calling in again: am I reaching any of you yet?”

The small black box in the dashboard only answered him with subtle static, Mordegrid scoffed after this continued for a minute and tried again: holding the receiver closer to his lips and with more assertion.

“I _said,_ Lieutenant Agent Lunezo Mordegrid reporting in. _Do you read me?_ Respond if you do.”

 

Again, answered with subtle white noise. The receiver was thrown back into its holder.

“ _Really?_ Still cut out?! I’ve already passed through _three_ tunnels no less and I’m still talking to myself! _God_ the reception out here sucks. Bunch of overall wearing farmers outhere have no use for radio towers… I can’t call back to the office and I haven’t even _heard_ from the damn ground team since Erie county.

 

A large tractor trailer decided to change lanes up ahead, forcing Mordegrid to stop as it slowly revved up again. He added it to his frustrations as his hands slapped against his thighs for a second.

“Oh, you _asshole…_

Fucking radio wont work… Traffic is beyond bad… Looks like the damn skies about to fall… now I got _this_ prick in front of me-”

 

On an impulse Mordegrid sped up and veered to an emergency lane, bypassing an angry truck and its horn as he accelerated ahead.

“- there… sheesh… it’s like everything that _can_ be a pain in my ass _is._ Nothing’s going right-”

 

He fidgeted with the _other_ radio device in his car, facing similar disappointment/

“Can’t even listen to music? _Damn…_ Why is nothing working around here?! Like really, I can’t even have something to ease me and- _Oh shit!”_

 

Mordegrid had taken his eyes off the road, and would’ve missed his turn if he didn’t lurch the steering wheel, his tires screeched against the gravel road. A mostly untouched soda freed itself of the crowded cup holder and spilt its room temperature contents onto Mordegrid’s lap.

“Oh _goddammit!_ Son of a- _bitch!”_

 

The car came to a halt just off the side of the road, the door swung open for Mordegrid to jump right out. Considering how this was the first time he had stood up today: Mordegrid’s legs took strongly to the sudden motion and performed less than favorable. He stumbled right back to the car and leaned himself off of it for support. While he was hunched over at his car, Mordegrid took the opportunity to snatch some of the napkins he had previously been sitting on.

 

“This is just great… _just_ great…”

 

He dabbed the sopping wet pants with the clutch of napkins, transforming them into equally wet soggy balls of paper. It was a good thing the exit was devoid of any traffic, people could be so immature with what she see out of a window… their assumptions creating their ill fun. Mordegrid continued to rub the damp napkins on his groin as he walked around to recirculate his legs.

 

A cold breeze caused him to shiver, he felt it mostly where the soda had spilled… but his suit wasn’t doing much for thermal insulation. At least it was black… so the only person who’d notice the dampness would be the wearer, no one could assume he’d pissed himself on the way here… really thought, at that point: Mordegrid’s only resort to diplomacy would be to chuck one of his bottles of urine at them, he just wasn’t in the mood.

 

Mordegrid shoved the used napkins into his pocket and tried to rub the area with his hands, he then blew into them and braced from the cold.

 

“Phew… god is it getting cold… hope I left my jacket in the trunk.”

 

He finally backtracked to the large green road sign, his rally point for stretching out his stiff legs, cracking some of his other joints with a stretch and a yawn. As his yawn winded down… he spotted something peculiar… something that bothered him.

 

_MT EBOTT_

_EXIT 201(X)_

 

He tilted his head at the reflective characters on the sign, it seemed right at the end of the number: some vandal took personal initiative to introduce a large “X” with graffiti. But aside from the vandalism, it wasn’t the road sign itself that bothered him… but what was had been attached under it.

 

It was bright red with even more eye catching reflective letters.

_EXIT CLOSED_

**_DO NOT ENTER_ **

_(Order of US Military)_

 

He murmured to himself… confused.

“What… the hell?

Military? What’s going on here?”

 

Before he could ponder it much, an answer blared its horn from behind the sign, breaking his thought with a skipped heartbeat. He wasn’t too thrilled about this, and angrily stormed to see the culprit of this.

 

“ _Hey!!_

What do you think you’re doing?! I can put you under for-”

 

Mordegrid found himself stopping for a reason still processing as he slowed his footing. His threat of incarceration could’ve worked for any wiseass civilian pulled off from the highway behind. But these people were different, they just came from the _other_ way… that… and these were _not_ civilians. A humvee decorated with camouflage rolled to a stop right next to Mordegrid.

 

The passenger leaned out of the window, if the solid build and camouflage attire didn’t finalize it: the american flag patched onto his sleeve did.

“Sir, you can’t be in here! This is a restricted area. I’m gonna have to ask you to get your vehicle back there and head back onto the highway.”

 

Mordegrid only made his bewilderment known to the man.

_“What!?”_

 

The man in the vehicle turned to the driver for a moment.

“Kill the engine real quick.”

 

The vehicle went to sleep, and with the engine clicking down, the man returned his attention to Mordegrid.

“I _said,_ this is a restricted area! You’re going to have to leave, you can’t be here: whole area’s closed off to the public.”

 

Mordegrid leveled his voice with the man’s and walked right up to the window.

“I heard you the first time!”

 

The man lowered his look, squaring his gaze onto Mordegrid. Their eye contact would suggest the beginning of belligerence.

“Okay? Then what’s the problem? Is your vehicle disabled? I can get you to the nearest lot then, you just can’t be here.”

 

The tone of his voice made his offer seem much less friendly than he was giving off, Mordegrid wouldn’t tolerate being spoken down to like this. He formed a flare in his eyes and swiped out his wallet. The leatherbound thing opened up, proudly displaying its written and badge wearing authority.

“ _Actually,_ I’m allowed to enter my own investigation, _I’m_ Lieutenant Special Agent: Lunezo Mordegrid from the department of Counter-Terrorism. This is _my_ jurisdiction, so why don’t we actually turn this the right way-”

 

He pointed aggressively at both of the men in the vehicle, the driver leaned around the passenger in interest: the passenger just crossed his arms.

 

“- _you’re_ not allowed to be here. I never gave any permissions for you guys to roll up into this. Who _are_ you anyways? So I can give a call to your superiors. The local militia?”

 

His potential disrespect was realized in full, the door opened and the passenger came outside, gaining about half of a foot over Mordegrid. His head was barren aside from the soft cap nestled on top while a pair of glasses hung by a strap around his neck. One of the shirt pockets revealed a pack of cigarettes.

He looked down at the agent with his hands folded behind, and sought to set him straight. A patch over his uniform pocket gave a name.

_R. Lomphetts_

“Try the United States National Guard.”

 

Mordegrid only stuttered his surprise to this, not only was he intruded on, he was usurped. The soldier projected his voice loud and assertively.

 

“42nd Infantry Division, Special forces 5th battalion. E company. We have taken operational control of the situation and have assumed all permissions and positions. Like I told you.. _SIR…_ your department no longer has command here.”

 

Mordegrid was presented with a bleak scenario, he was _forced_ to step down to this man simply from rank. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t be outraged about it.

 

“What?! Why wasn’t I informed of this?! You can’t just waltz in here _my_ case and just _take_ it without so much as notice!

Who-

 

Who ordered this operation! Who the hell sent you?!”

 

Lomphetts bent down slightly to further intrude on Mordegrid, a bid to further remind him of the command he possessed. His corroding patience was beginning to show.

“Sir, you’re speaking to a sergeant of the US army, I’ll ask you kindly to show some respect and curb your voice. Secondly, you’re not authorized to know that, just as how you’re not authorized to _be_ here. I’m going to ask you this _again,_ please leave the area. You don’t want me to repeat this.”

 

The sergeant straightened himself and waited for the response, from the twitching and trembling out of Mordegrid, he expected more insubordination and reared for a fight. But before Mordegrid could even throw another outburst, a voice buzzed in between them.

 

“Sir? Come in, this is ground base: do you copy? What’s going on over there?”

 

Mordegrid scoffed a single laugh in defiance at the words, he reached for his radio: finally receiving, he’d be more than happy to hear it out.

 

“Alright, let's just see what the department _actually_ has to- uhhm.”

 

His sneered words lost their way as he fumbled for his radio… he’d keep this up until the soldier held out _his_ device for Mordegrid to see… then remember, _his_ radio was affixed to his car.

 

The voice crackled in again, more solicitous being it didn’t get a response.

“Sergeant? Sergeant Lomphetts? Can you read me? What’s going on over there?”  

 

Sergeant Lomphetts smirked at Mordegrid, then put his receiver to his mouth.

“I hear ya, base. Loud and Clear. We’ve got a-”

The man threw his voice some, just to mock Mordegrid because he could.

“*Lieutenant Mordegrid* Here, on the 201 exit. Claims he’s got the right to come in. Don’t worry though, we got this under control, he’s just about to-”

 

The sergeant was interrupted suddenly when a new voice erupted from his radio, it made him and Mordegrid flinch. The voice was far more aggressive than the previous. Agitated too.

“Mordegrid?! As in Lunezo Moregrid?! Is that who you’re holding?! Over.”

 

The smugness in the man had worn off, he sternly replied.

 

“Oh sir… uhm… _Yes!_ Yes… that’s who I’m talking to right now… just another cop who saw the sign, this one was claiming this operation was under his name, so I was just setting it clear that-”

 

Before he could ramble on much further, the agitated voice interrupted him once more.

 

“Goddammit Lomphetts! He wouldn’t be saying that if it wasn’t true! Stop wasting his time and let him through, right away! That’s an order! Over.”

 

Mordegrid relaxed a bit and crossed his arms, satisfied by this peculiar voice.

“Hmph…”

 

The sergeant looked at the new pose and sighed, devolving it into a grunt, then pressing the button on his receiver again. The irritated reluctance was easy to catch in his voice.

“Wilco, sir.”

 

The radio spoke one more time with barely any agitation now.

“Good! I want you to escort him to the sheriff's station right away. Give him no more trouble. Out.”

 

Still disappointed, the corporal confirmed himself.

“Roger that… sir.”

He scoffed at Mordegrid’s belittling expression, trying a more subtle aggression to patch his dignity.

“I still outrank you by a mile, you still treat me with respect.”

 

He got a potentially sarcastic “Mmmh-hmm” and a nod, but didn’t have the liberty to break orders to contest any further, Lomphetts got the driver to start the humvee up again and signaled Mordegrid as he got back in.

“Alright, get your vehicle and follow me, _sir.”_

 

Mordegrid sat himself down back into his vehicle after wiping some of the larger foodstuffs off of his seat and started it up; he waited for the humvee to turn around before he pulled out behind it. He sighed as they proceeded down the road.

“Well… at least _some_ one’s working with me… I have no idea what’s going on and who made this out of my case… but this is promising at least.”

 

He grabbed _his_ receiver and tried to give a status update.

“This is Lieutenant Mordegrid: I’ve just arrived at the exclusion zone and got stopped by the military. What the hell’s going on here and why haven’t I been informed of this?”

 

He was once again… ultimately talking to himself, he was answered by nothing but static.

 

“What the fuck is up with this-”

He smacked the receiver into the box a couple of times.

“Piece- of-junk!”

 

Mordegrid stretched his neck joints and calmed again with a yawn, looking ahead to keep with the humvee.

“It’s gotta be my equipment’s busted… of all the shitty timing for this, it picks _now_ to cut me off… just _great.”_

 

Not long on the road, they reached another obstacle.  A lone M-35 Truck occupied half of the single laned road, while a a duo of soldiers clad with helmets stood behind a flimsy traffic barricade. Protected by the principle that it’d stop a motorist rather than the actual physics, that… and their M16’s.

 

Mordegrid couldn’t hear any converse over the sound of engines running from where he was, but the body movement told enough. The two men behind the barrier leaned around the humvee to get a look at Mordegrid, giving confused expressions before turning back to the driver. Mordegrid could see the guy shrug in his mirror; after that. Two two guards lifted the barricade up and out of the way. The humvee proceeded again, and Mordegrid followed right behind it. He looked into his rearview and saw the barrier closing off the road again, both of the guards stared at him before a turn in the road severed their eyesight with trees.

 

Speaking of trees, there were a lot of them, Ebott valley was dominated by a sea of deciduous forests. The trees reached for the gray cloudy sky above and sought to cover it with their conjoining canopies. Mordegrid wasn’t acclimated to such sights outside of his urban to suburban grounds, to him. The sheer presence of nature was nothing short of astounding.

 

“Well… guess I can’t blame them too much for losing him… you could lose a school bus in here… but where’s the mountain? I can’t even see it, how close I am…”

 

But there it was… the two sides of massive treelines opened and invited him for the view, he could see it all… tucked under the gray sky, illuminated by fleeting dusk receding through the shrouded clouds.

“-Mount Ebott…”

 

From his windshield and off in the distance, Mordegrid could see everything: the protrusion of earth reaching beyond the treelines, reaching for the heavens, for god. But Mordegrid knew it would never get so far, not when it was weighed down with the soul of the hellbent. Seeing how much smaller it was than his fantasies… it gave him a glimmer in his eye, this wasn’t just a mountain… this was where it would all end…. For suspect Omega.

 

They kept driving at this relaxed pace, the mountain grew closer and larger as they approached it, Mordegrid could’ve stared at it forever, but he had to pay attention to where he was going, as the humvee he trailed wasn’t the only thing on the road now. The lane was becoming terribly narrow, not out of poor design nor shoddy construction; but the unending lines of emergency vehicles parked up and down both lanes. Police cruisers, ranger jeeps, S.W.A.T vans… all lined up, vacant.

 

Mordegrid’s vehicle was the only one of its kind still _moving,_ in company of troop carriers and APCs. In fact, _he_ was one a kind: he saw people just about everywhere, driving these camouflaged trucks, walking besides them, or just patrolling around: all of them were soldiers. Not a single cop or someone wearing blue, just green camo. Everything was overwhelmingly _green…_ until something _new_ stood out from the place.

 

**_Black._ **

 

Deceased trees, only remaining as charred stumps surrounded a portion of the path, Mordegrid wouldn’t be able to push towards it as his escort made a left off of the road and he’d follow suit. But when he got an unobstructed look at the center of the scorched radius, he gasped.

 

A twisted gnarled frame that used to be a 96 Chevy Impala, decomposing at the center of a huge scorch in the grass. Utterly destroyed from within by a makeshift explosive device, and its remains charred to its metallic bone from the fire resulted. Omega’s calling card, a car bomb to prove how much he hated losing.

 

The convoy finally reached its destination, a small building with an ever smaller lot tucked into the center of this humble town. The escort took the last of the measly eight parking spaces, Mordegrid idled in the middle of the lot, frustrated.

 

The driver beckoned from his door as he killed the engine.

“Just leave it there, you’re fine!”

 

Mordegrid didn’t comply just yet, as impatient as he was for answers, he wouldn’t stoop down to lazily parking his car in the middle of the road.  He turned his head and checked every angle for an opening in the military vehicles.

 

The man walked up to Mordegrid’s window and took his attention again, unlike the corporal: this soldier seemed more laidback and untroubled. Much friendlier. He was hard took in the eyes, mostly because his helmet seemed just a tic too large for him.

“Buddy, you’re fine. We got plenty of room to go around you, nobody’s gonna care.”

 

Mordegrid tried one more protest out of modesty.

“It’s fine, I can look for an actual spot, I don’t need to inconvenience anybody more than I already have.”

He tilted his head toward Lomphetts spitingly. The driver persisted again, sticking his head into the car. He really preferred Mordegrid to leave his vehicle like this.

 

“ _Please_ This is the _only_ place where we actually used the damn spots correctly, whole rest of the town we just park where we please. We sorta gave up when the woodbacks took up 3 spaces.”

 

Mordegrid finally shrugged and turned his vehicle off, he gave his final disclaimer as he got out of his car again.

“If you insist… it’s gonna be your name if this causes a problem though, uhhm.”

He squinted for the name tag, but the man answered for him. While going to shake his hand.

 

“Private Eeneyae, sir. But don’t worry about that, I’m sticking by the car, me and Lomphetts just finished our patrol. So if anyone has an issue I’ll give em the story, ok?”

 

Mordegrid nodded pleasantly and began to head into the sheriff's building.

“Thanks, nice to meet you.”

  


A duo of assault rifle wielding men impeded the entrance One of them pointed at Mordegridas he approached.

“Lieutenant Mordegrid?”

 

Mordegrid supplied his ID regardless of the sarcasm coming out of his mouth.

“Seeing as I couldn’t even get near here if I wasn’t? Yes, that’s me.”

 

The two soldiers just nudged out of the way for him, the same one replied.

“Make a left right up to the sheriff's office: the captain wants to see you.”

  


Mordegrid felt a foreboding vibe walking into the place. None of the lights were on, and what little light came in from the outside was filtered through filthy windows, giving it a depressing yellow luminescence. With the mess of papers strewn all over the floor and unfinished meals sitting on desks… place looked like it’d been hastily ridden of all life. It was literally abandoned, besides the two men standing outside the main doors, and Mordegrid. He couldn’t even tell if the Sheriff's office was even occupied, the room was pitch black mind the dingy yellow light seeping in through the ajar door.

 

He’d been told otherwise and despite the empty look to it, Mordegrid tapped on the door.

“Somebody in here?”

Yes there was, a voice projected out from the room. Quite deep , _powerful_  and assertive, finished with a thick southern accent… but friendly.

 

“Come in! Come in, yes… I’m in here.”

A large shape spun around from behind the door facing desk, and as Mordegrid pulled the door open, the occupant became slightly more visible, their hands drummed against the desk enthusiastically, the voice matched: quite joyful.

 

“You must be Lunezo Mordegrid from the Fed department! Ha! When those conspiracists talk about “them” they’re talk-an about you, ah?”

 

It was really quite unusual given the entire situation, this guy was presenting himself like this was some friend school reunion, Mordegrid stayed professional and direct.

 

“Yes, I’ve been escorted here by people that I didn’t even know were here or intruded on this exclusion search, are you in charge of all this? Mister…”

 

The man behind the desk retained his light demeanor.

“US Army Captain Richard Pailurn, But-chu can call me “Dick” It's good to see you, Lieutenant.”

 

Mordegrid half squinted at his outstretched hand.

“I can’t quite do same for you, _sir.”_

 

Pailurn retracted his hand and receded into the darkness.

“Oh yeah, pardon that, one sec.”

 

A brief period of rummaging sounds was rewarded with a sudden bright flash of harsh fluorescent light, it subsided to a less eye harming dimmed glow shortly after it came on.

 

Pailurn brought the electric lantern to a rest on the large desk, he quipped while Mordegrid rubbed his tired eyes.

“Whoops, give ya ah’nother pardon for that, got these lanterns for explorin caves and stuff, these are some serious business, I tell you what.

 

Mordegrid blinked a good amount of times as his vision adjusted, going with Pailurn.

“Yeah.. talk about really _bright,_ what’s up with that? Why can’t we use the actual lights?”

 

Pailurn stood up from his chair, set up for a good long examination. Just from his first glance: Mordegrid was able to tell that the man’s physique perfectly matched his voice. This was a thickset man, balanced by his impressive height… couldn’t be too far from seven feet tall. His arms were planted on the flat surface, giving Mordegrid a good sight of the rank patches sewn on, cohabitating with stars. Below his shirt, a pair of hand-grenades rested on a utility belt, further down: a carbon desert eagle slept in a leg holster.  

Pailurns bright oily skin tone gave the illusion of a bald head in the light, but in the bright glow, a freshly buzzed head of hair disproved that.

Beyond his body and what dressed it... It was the face that threw Mordegrid off the most, bright hazel eyes locked into a forceful _commanding_ stare, topping off a facade that was assertive by default… he just _looked_ mean. It didn’t line up with his seemingly placid behavior… especially considering his voice matched with the angry radio back at exit 201.

 

Pailurn explained.

“Yeah, so. You probably didn’t see on the way in, but there’s no lectric towers or nuttin like that around here. S’all underground, buried lines and all that. Now… I _know_ you took a looking at that pile of smoldering twisted metal when you came in, yeh? I doubt you of all people would miss that.”

 

Mordegrid was questionable about the inquiry.

“Yeah?...-”

He discarded his curiosity and scoffed because he assumed exactly what Pailurn was about to say. Pailurn picked this up and answered off of it.

 

“Yhep, he did… right on top of the main line, a direct fucking hit, can you believe it?”

With that, Pailurn rapped one of his hands against the desk and started laughing with a wheeze, further suggesting the subtle disdain from Mordegrid. He continued in raucous chuckling.

 

“This sunova bitch crashes his car _right_ on the best- _worst_ place he could possibly do it! I’m still tryn’ta  figure if this is on purpose of if he’s just the luckiest pissbucket this side of the mountain!”

With that, Pailurn leaned in his chair to project more of his immature laughter, he couldn’t have sounded more unserious… and Mordegrid couldn’t have been withholding more contempt for his actions. Out of forced respect for an army major though… Mordegrid held his tongue and allowed Pailurn to finish giggling. He calmed enough to speak normally, but had one more unprofessional quip.

 

“Woowee… I’ll tell ya what: good ol’ freakin  Brainzy sure knows how to bend us over a table. _Car bombin right over the main junction…_ I mean come _onnnn_.”

 

He chuckled some more at his implied absurdity but Mordegrid couldn’t take it anymore, his temper dam had to release the pressure before he’d explode.

“ **_Brainzy_ ** _?_ I’m sorry, we may not be looking for the same guy. You see, I’m looking for this domestic terrorist who’s only second to a Mr Mcveigh in notoriety. Piece of evil worshipping garbage, killed over 200 people… national fear, so much that he garners the goddamned military of all people, without my permission to search for him? You seem like you’re treating him like some misdemeanor punk.”

 

Pailurn stopped laughing and smiling all together, his large brows sunk down and he stood up and towered over his desk and Mordegrid. The police lieutenant only realized now that he just let that off on an army major. So whatever was about to happen he prepared for a lot of yelling.

 

Pailurn’s voice dropped to that authoritative drone Mordegrid initially expected, he glared at the Lieutenant and relayed his words.

“You _should_ be sorry, you little maggot. Have you already forgotten who you’re talking _down_ to?”

 

Mordegrid was forced by rank to backpedal.

“Sir, I didn’t mean any disrespect-”

 

Pailurn slammed his fist against the table, almost sending the lightsource into a tumble, some pencils were less fortunate.

“ _Shut your mouth, MAGGOT!_ I am still talking!! You are not to address an army captain like that! Just one word and I can have your ass deported to where it shat from in the back of your own cruisers! Do I make myself _clear!?”_

 

The sudden surge of command sought to put Mordegrid in his place, he nervously sounded back.

“ _Okay! Okay…._ I’m sorry.”

 

Pailurn was unsatisfied.

“You’re sorry, _what?!_ Who are you speaking to, _dirtbag?!_ Your dear old mother?! One of your lackeys?! _Who are you addressing?!”_

 

Mordegrid shouted, sending the heavy perspiration flying off of his face.

“Sir, Captain Pailurn, _SIR!...?”_

 

He held his breath just barely shaking, holding obligatory eye contact with the major, whos stare burned a hole through him. For a moment, it seemed Pailurn was prime to leap over the desk for Mordegrid’s throat.

 

“ _Bah! Ha-ha-haw-haw-hawwwh!!!”_

Pailrun slammed back into his chair, stressing the poor thing: he’d erupted into laughter and almost fell off of it. He tried to speak in the midst of his chuckles.

 

“You!... You!!.... You shoulda seen the look on your-”

But his laughter tainted composure began to give into harder laughter again.

“- _freaking...ff-fface!”_

 

All Mordegrid could do was remain stockstill, stalled by absolute bewilderment and agitating confusion, trying to make sense of what the hell was going on. Pailurn let it out and went to speak again, in that jovial voice as he wiped away a tear from his eye.

 

“ _Whoo… wooo.._ Woo man… that’s always good!. I don’t care what everyone else bitches about, that’s still fuckin funny.”

 

He engaged with Mordegrid again, clearing his throat and getting the last snicker or two out.

“Mr Mordegrid!, I’ll ask you to pardon me once more, I can’t help but do that to everyone on their first impressions, it’s just too good....  _'Ass from where it shat from...'_ what does that even mean? He-heh."

 

Mordegrid wasn’t so willing to give that pardon and dared to provoke the man once more, stuttering almost purposefully to make his confusion obvious to assuage any insult.

“What.. what.. Th… what the hell was all _that?!..._ sir?..”

 

Pailurn cracked up again, but motioned his arm for Mordegrid to hold the formalities.

“That’s my little joke on stereotypes. Y’all come in and expect some cigar smoking general missing his library voice to bark atcha, so… I give you just that. S’funnier actually... cause that’s not even right, you’re thinkin of drill sergeants! It’s their _job_ to do that.”

 

A shorter lived crack up, put away at the discretion of an unamused looking police agent. He sighed and sounded more solemn.

“Alright, alright, I’m not gonna get even a smile out of you aren’t I?

Look… I know, you took a look at me and thought I’d be this mean motherfucker didn’t you? I throw off a lotta people off with that, and usually the “ _You Maggot!”_ bit has em laughing after. But it looks like you’re tryn’ta to hold up the mean S.O.B role. Over a nickname of all things. What’s up with you Mr. Mordegrid?”

 

Mordegrid had some trouble figuring how to respond to that, it became easier when he realized he could be angry, which he was.

“You don’t like that I’m looking _mean?_ Pardon me, but how the fuck am I supposed to feel with what you freaking did here?! Do you think it makes me happy? No, it fucking doesn't. And since you’re so invested in your juvenile act there, yeah. You did surprise me, for someone I didn’t expect to even _be_ here… you did surprise me.”

 

Pailurn squinted his eyes a bit.

“I can’t figure why you’re this pissed off over a harmless nickname.”

 

Now Mordegrid squinted, only angrier. He near whispered from exasperation and short termed confusion.

“Nickname nickname? The hell are you going on about?”

 

Pailurn remarked innocently.

“Didn’t like “Brainzy” right?”

 

No sooner did Pailurn hold his hand out assumptively, did Mordegrid shake his head and torso vigorously. Being fed all this nonsense, one spoonful after another, he’d finally had enough and given the opportunity: went to spit it all back into Pailurn’s face.

 

“No! That’s not why I’m pissed! It pisses me off that you’re so nonchalant about that, but you want to know what’s really grinding my gears right now? _YOU_ are-”

 

Pailurn was about to inquire about that, but Mordegrid broadened his contempt by gesturing his arms to everything around.

“- _All_ of you! You guys just rolled in and decided to squat on _my_ case! _I_ was in charge of this, everything was done under _MY_ name. I drove all the way here _expecting_ to find everything the way I’d been told last, but instead I get belittled at the damn exit and faced with someone who couldn’t take this any less seriously. And if you take this as a bland insult, an excuse for you to yell at me and assert your inflated rank, then go right ahead, I couldn’t care less if you were joking or not.”

Mordegrid put his foot down to the floor and glanced around the room anxiously, it suddenly felt much more claustrophobic than it had before. Again, he expected the absolute worst outcome from this, he’d be prepared for a bulwark of shouting and anger: but not for Pailurn’s actual response.

 

The Captain just crossed his arms and nodded understandingly.

“Okay… I getcha there, no more fun’n’games, you’re here on a mission: so I’ll cut to the briefing, OK?”

 

He didn’t wait for a response and continued shortly after the rhetorical question.

“So look… this is my doing, everything here-”

 

He gestured his arms to everything.

“- is all mine. You wanted to know who’s in charge’ve all this, and you’re lookin at- _im._ Those men out there are all mine, this company belongs to me.”

 

Mordegrid went to speak now, but Pailurn held up another hand to interrupt quickly.

“Now now, hold on a bit! Before you give me all your wonderin and such, I gave you the _what,_ you coulda figured that yourself. So lemme give ya, the _why._ That’s why you’re standin here: which by the way, there’s a chair right behind ya… feel free to sit down-”

 

While presented with the offer, Mordegrid didn’t, and remained standing.

“-Suit yourself. Now if you wanna keep up being angry, that's fine. But don't throw it my way. This whole operation may belong to me now, but just because I’m in charge of it doesn’t mean I’m _responsible_ for this, to which I am not.”

 

Pailurn sat back and let Mordegrid speak for once, he didn’t have much to say except a quick question, not quite sure of the information yet.

“Wait, what do you mean? I’m not quite putting it- you’re in charge of this occupation here, but it’s not your doing?”

 

He got a nod while Pailurn propped his chin on his hands.

“Exactly, while yer not gonna find a superior rank to me anywhere near here, I’m sure you’re aware there’s plenty of enlisted men with just a couple more stars than me. So you can look at me and say I’m in charge of all those men out there. But you can go and look up the next rank and say “Well he’s gotta be in charge of the guy in charge of all those men!” Now you can keep that up all the way until the US General of the entire dang army!”

 

Once more, he let Mordegrid come back to him for an assurance he understood. He still had a question.

“So.. hold on a sec, are you saying that you were told to come here? By someone else?”

 

Even though it was a question, it was still the right answer. Pailurn nodded with a little more energy.

“Yhep, you’ve got it all straightened out now, whole army’s just a big line of people tellin other people what to do… you ever heard that children’s nursery rhyme, about the old lady who swallowed a fly? Same fundamental, you can look at me...hmmm, like I’m the bird or the cat, I’ve just got someone bigger to account for me.”

 

To put it lightly, Pailurn basically laid out to Mordegrid, that _he_ wasn’t the one to complain to about the soldiers stepping on his operation. As simple as he put it though, Mordegrid still had questions.

“Alright.. I get that, so then… who _did_ send you, I want to know who’s responsible for this.”

 

Pailurn clicked his tongue and exhaled sharply.

“ _Tch…_ fraid I can’t give ya that info, s’classified government stuff.”

 

Mordegrid sneered and squinted skeptically.

“But I _am,_ government.”

 

He got a nod, but still-

“Well sure, that’s fine and all. But you’re not-”

He made air quotes, subtly to mock the logic he had to followed.

“- _’Government’_ enough to know that, sorry bud, I don’t got any standin to change that either.”

 

Mordegrid groaned annoyedly, pacing in a small circle before grunting his frustration calmly.

“You military people and your damn secrecy… you know we’re on the same side as you right?”

 

Pailurn shrugged innocently.

“I _getcha_ man, I _really_ do, but there’s nothin I can do about that, gettin angry at me isn’t gonna change the amount of nothin I can do, like I said, just a big line of people bigger than us.”

 

Mordegrid let out the frustration with a drawn out, defeated, sigh, resting his forehead into his palm. He let himself loosen enough to finally sit down and speak without that assertion for intimidation.

“Fine… fine, but did you have to leave everyone in the dark about this? It’s not like you can keep this whole area a secret.”

 

Pailurn cocked his head to the size and raised a brow with a frown.

“Whattaya mean?”

 

Mordegrid looked back from his hand and pushed the explanation.

“You know, I’ve been trying to call here since yesterday, and not one person answered or even picked up a radio or phone… I probably may not have come all this way if I knew ahead of time… it’s the inconvenience of all this that’s bit me so much. I literally drove for almost twenty-four hours straight, I mean look at me!-”

His arms gestured up and down his wrinkled and stained suit, ending at his saggy tired eyes.

“- I’ve got bottles of piss rolling around my car… I wouldn’t have even thought of doing that unless I was certain everything was normal.”

 

Pailurn mouthed some of the story, looking up at the ceiling for thought, his head shook more and more as he put it together. When he was done, he looked to Mordegrid with some concern.

 

“Mister Mordegrid… I’m not sure how you could come to that conclusion… we relayed the orders from higher up to every station involved… we let em know to pack up before we left the base… are you sure you were trying to reach the right frequencies? You said you’ve been trying for almost a day?...-”

 

Pailurn rummaged through a couple of green dossiers on the desk, foreigners in comparison to the tan folders natively found in the station. He muttered under his breath as he looked through them.

“Squad designations, Equipm-,topography, satellite, archives, no.. where-.”

 

He found what he was looking for and raised it so he could parse it and keep eye contact with the Lieutenant.

“We got the order on a March fifteenth at 0600 hours, relayed through all local and cross state, law enforcement communication mediums. Yeah… given how long you’ve been driving… you should’ve received word at _least_ an hour or two before you’d even get in your car… and you said you tried to contact here on the police line?”

 

A subtly realizing Mordegrid answered slowly.

“Yeeaah?”

 

Pailurn packed the folders backup and lay them to rest, shaking his head slowly while folding his hands together.

“I don’t want to suggest you may have a bummed transceiver, but… we been keeping everyone in touch in and out. You’re the only one who’s got this problem I’m afraid.”

 

Mordegrid sighed angrily, but calmed himself to show it wasn’t aimed at the Captain, he nodded willfully with a frustrated expression.

“Yeah… that just about figures… thought my unit was having trouble, but I wasn’t convincing myself it was just me. If anything, I only inconvenienced myself…”

 

Pailurn sat there diligently as Mordegrid’s anger cooled into a small depression.

“Got so worked up that I actually sprung and rotted in that car for eighteen hours, just to realize it’s not my say anymore. I probably should’ve just listened and stayed home… if anything, I really should be sorry for strolling into your business like I did.”

 

Mordegrid sat in his chair, defeated and forlorn: awaiting a confirmation to his self-resent.

 

Pailurn let out a long “hmm” then smacked his lips. He stood up from the chair and seemed to light up again, Mordegrid looked up.

“Well, I won’t argue with you there, to be factual and what not… you _really_ really aren’t supposed to be here, like… big consequence sort of “not supposed to be here””

 

Mordegrid groaned sadly.

“I know… how much trouble can I save myself if I just le-”

 

He was interrupted.

“Now now now, let’s not get to doom’n gloom there. I’m not gonna sit here and tell ya off about all the “punishment” or “incorrect actions” or yadda yadda badda military jargon. I’m not a soldier programmed robot spouting orders and “overs” here and there, I’ve got a heart, man. You sat in a damn car for eighteen hours straight on your own merits because this case meant _that_ much to you, if anything… I’d imagine that this is something _personal-.”_

 

Mordegrid began to perk up slowly, raising a brow or two.

 

Pailurn cut to his proposal.

“Now look, even though you technically… _literally_ shouldn’t be here… I’m thinkin… you’ve showed enough dedication already… that’s the stuff that makes up an army man… why don’cha stay up here and give us a hand since you went through all the trouble?

Sounds better than sending you back the way you came with a demerit chasing ya, whattaya think?”

 

Mordegrid seemed to light up with hope and possessed positive energy in his response.

“Wha.. wow, really? You can do that?”

 

Pailurn shrugged and grinned warmly.

“Eh.. nothing says I _can_ do that, but at the same time… there’s nothin that says I _can’t_ do that. And besides… If I don’t report anything of it… that’s nothin saying I can or can’t do nothin… you following me there?”

 

He winked and snickered a bit, amused. Mordegrid on the other hand seemed content for once.

“That sounds great… I… I don’t know what to say, sir. Thank you. You don’t know how much I appreciate that.”

 

Pailurn stood up again and held out his arm for a handshake.

“Don’t think nothin of it, Lieutenant: I’ma make sure the company knows what I want, so you’ll get the fair treatment you deserve.”

 

Mordegrid completed the handshake and actually smiled.

“Thank you sir.”

 

Pailurn stretched some of his joints and yawned.

“All good, in fact… why don’t I radio down to my techs and ask em to take a look at that car radio of yours? They trust these guys to work on tanks and missiles, they can fix about anything.”

 

Mordegrid tried to reject modestly.

“Oh no.. sir, I couldn’t… that would be too much… I’ve already taken your time enough.”

 

But a hand swiping the air set up the rebuttal.

“Nonsense! Basic car radio? That’s preschool for these guys, we got plenty of parts: the _good_ stuff too. 100% US military grade manufacturing. When they’re done and finished, you’ll be able to pick up a fly farting in space with that thing, ehh?-”

 

Pailurn patted Mordegrid’s back as an extra convincing gesture.

“-whattaya say?”

 

He was successful, and Mordegrid grinned and nodded with the pats.

“Heh… alright, if you so _insist,_ that’d be more than great… I’d really like to update all _my_ guys… actually, you think I could borrow a phone or a radio for a bit? I want to make sure everyone knows I made it alright.”

 

Pailurn stopped smiling and apprehensively gripped Mordegrid’s shoulder.

“Whoa whoa whoa there partner. Remember… if you wanna stay up here, then you aren’t _officially_ here. You gotta keep that a secret or else we’re all in the hole.”

 

Mordegrid turned tiredly and argued some more.

“But… I’ve gotta tell them I’m _alright_ at least… they’d be more concerned if I just vanished off the face of the earth.. Especially how reluctant they were to see me go when I did… I could make something up… say I’m at a motel and I changed my mind… or-”

 

Pailurn shook his head.

“On a military radio?”

 

Mordegrid yawned and accepted that.

“Dah… shit… you’re right, the only thing I’d got is my car.”

 

Pailurn killed the light on the lamp and began to usher Mordegrid and himself out of the tiny room, the yellow light from the grimy windows weakened, now only barely providing visibility above total darkness. The sun outside had almost called it in for the night, clouds continued to envelop the sky, closing the gaps.

 

Pailurn gave a subtle gesture to his door guards as he walked Mordegrid out from the building, he turned to the Lieutenant.

“And don’t worry about it, we’ll have it back and up… a day.. Two at the most, you’ll be able to tell them you’re doin just swell.”

 

Mordegrid seemed further content, but it faded away when an unobstructed entrance to a less crowded parking lot faced him.

“Wait… what happened to my car? I had it parked right here, a guy told me it was fine and insisted on it.”

 

Pailurn spoke reassuring.

“Uh that? Oh! We already sent it to the engineers, right away so they could get cracking at it… why, didja have something you wanted to get? Cuz I could ask a couple guys to bring em here.”

 

Mordegrid scrunched his face a bit… not wishing to be rude anymore.

“ _Nnn_ ooo…. Well I had a couple of things, sure… but I’ve got mostly trash in there… they’re gonna think I’m a slob- I just.. I didn’t even hear you telling them to do that.”

He finished that sentence with another yawn.

 

Pailurn smirked a bit.

“Uh-huhh no huh?…looks like you wont be hearing a couple more things in a bit… you seem like you’re barely standing as it is… you been awake for what… 20 hours?”

 

Mordegrid scoffed with satisfaction.

“Almost two days straight… what time is it, getting dark.”

 

The captain glanced at his watch, with his arm holding onto Mordegrid’s shoulder.

“Sss… 8… almost about eight o clock.”

 

Mordegrid just nodded his head even slower and barely spoke above a whisper as he felt his limitations with exhaustion.

“Forty… two hours then.”

 

Pailurn laughed in amused surpise.

“Goddamn you’re determined! We gotta train these boys out here to stay awake just for 24, and here you are out doing them… man alive... ! But in all serious, we got a couple of extra cots set up in the schooling building here… why don’t you take advantage of that.”

 

Mordegrid shook his finger while his other hand stressed the sagging skin under his eyes.

“No no… I came to catch this guy… I’m not gonna show up in your face and then lay on my ass while people work… I can keep it up.”

 

They had been walking through the small town, passing woodbacks and gun toting guardsmen, Pailurn shook Mordegrid’s shoulder again with solicitous resolve. Mordegrid seemed unaware where he was being taken from the lethargy. Unbeknownst to him that he was walking right for the school.

 

“Lunezo, get some sleep. Don’t worry about anything right now, we won’t start the active search until tomorrow, so you won’t miss a thing. If anything, we need you alert and awake for that if you want to be useful, lemme tell you that.”

 

He received one more objection, Mordegrid’s last stand for the night.

“Wha-wait… you’re not looking for him right now? Why? You could be wasting precious time, he could have a window-”

 

He was shushed and brought before a new building, they stopped right before the door.

“Don’t even let _that_ cross your mind… this place is closed tighter than a nun’s asshole, no one’s getting in or out for that regard. Every road and path has a full security detail on shifts, we’ve set up heat detecting surveillance cameras all over the place, and if you still can’t relax with all that in mind, why don’t you look up.

 

Mordegrid dully relayed what he say.

“Gray.”

Pailurn noted the cloudy sky but continued his speech.

“Well, behind that: and pretty far up there is a satellite. The same kind of satellite that makes google maps so addicting. We got one all for us, and it’s holding a huge ass magnifying glass to this boring mountain. If so much as a person peeks out of a bush… we’re going to know before they do.”

 

That seemed to appease Mordegrid, more withdrawn by the increasingly irresistible idea of getting some sleep.

“All that stuff and we still don’t have him yet… heh. Well alright, I could use a couple hours then… but if you get your men up as early as the crack of dawn: you better get me too, I came here to find him, and I won’t slack any further.”

 

Pailurn jovially saluted.

“Alright, ‘sir’ head straight through the door into the gymnasium, all the cots are first come first serve.”

 

And with that, Mordegrid entered lantern lit school building, disappearing from the outside world.

 

 

* * *

 

Pailurn sighed and made for the road, just as a familiar humvee pulled up, the driver rolled the window down, and Pailurn gave directions immediately.

“Boneyard.”

Lomphetts questioned as Pailurn climbed into the back.

“We good sir?”

Pailurn nodded dolefully.

“Affirmative Lomphetts. He’s on our side.”

 

Lomphetts rolled his eyes as Pailurn close his door and settled in.

“For _now_ at least.”

 

 


	11. Unceasing Ruination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Mommy's home!"  
> Let's go, let's go!  
> Homeward bound.  
> She has a t r e a t f o r u s
> 
> Don't run away, little boy  
> It's EXACTLY what you deserve.

**_ᴸᴼᴼᴷ ᴬᵀ ᴴᴵᴹ. ᵂᴴᴬᵀ ᴬ ᴮᴿᴼᴷᴱᴺ ᴾᴵᴱᶜᴱ ᴼᶠ ˢᴴᴵᵀ, ᴵᵀ’ˢ ᴬᴸᴹᴼˢᵀ ˢᴬᴰ. ᴬᴸᴼᴺᴱ, ᴸᵞᴵᴺᴳ ᴵᴺ ᵀᴴᴬᵀ ᴴᴱᴬᴾ ᴼᶠ ᴴᴵᴹˢᴱᴸᶠ._ **

 

His screaming descent could last no longer, the harsh guttural noise from his withered lungs gave out long before his fall did. A scream in the darkness going quiet: the furious rush of gelid subterranean air- numb, the weak sliver of light revoked from above, snuffed. The world gave unto nothingness around him as he fell, and eventually with nothing left to exist: it imploded, ceasing from him as well. Falling outside of existence itself, where could he find himself but naught itself? A destination would never come up, lest he-

Brainz’s eyes shot open, his mouth following suit to release an ephemeral but intense yell. He thrashed to escape from the sudden feeling of physical matter restraining him where he was, defeating it and sensing the frantic ability to sit up. The bleak imminence of an untimely end failed to carry over into here, and that realization formed as his panic cooled with his sweat drenched exterior.

_“Just another bad dream… it’s over now.”_

 

He slouched and let himself come to terms with vertible solace, slowing his pants and subsiding the ringing in his ears. It was just another nightmare, the longest and most powerfully evocative yet impossibly far: from lucid dream of the congregation: as horribly unique as it _was_ though, it was no different than the others in that: it was over.

 

When Brainz felt his composure again, he departed from the impressed bed: removing the wrinkly ball of thrown off sheets from the floor and back to the soft surface before: he’d straighten them later. The disorganized array of playthings and clothes strewn about the floor?… they’d always put off dealing with that, today wasn’t an exception.

 

_“We’ll get it later, no need to remind us.”_

 

Brainz glanced at his respective dresser on the way to the door, habitually visited before he’d leave this room: but this time, he would skip it. He just wanted to flush out that horrible memory with some more time in his real life. He opened the door and went to enter his life through the hallway still clad in pajamas taking a walk to get the drowsiness out.

 

His small home felt _more_ inviting than usual, the air was warm and comfortable and it carried a scent, an alluring one: a familiar scent at that. He immediately felt better as he shuffled away, feeling a growing sense of happiness, happy to be alive and well. He passed through his hallway: decorated by ornate plants: vibrant yellow petals showing their beauty: while a set stairs to his right led to the basement.

 

_“I still don’t like basements, I hope I can outgrow that one day.”_

 

The front door stood facing the staircase, a pair of windows to look out into the world. He could see the drops of rain traveling down the glass, a light drizzle coming in from a gray sky above. He wouldn’t be tempted to play outside today, not in the rain.

 

Brainz made it to the den, a cozy looking fire warmed the ambience of the home: crackling politely while the large reading chair sat  just beside the mantle, a book rested on its arm: waiting for the next storytime to be told by the occupant. He’d always favored sitting on his mother’s lap when the time came, the chair was empty however.

 

**ᵂᴴᴬᵀ ᴰᴼ ᵞᴼᵁ ᵀᴴᴵᴺᴷ ᴳᴼᴱˢ ᴼᴺ ᴵᴺ ᵀᴴᴱᴿᴱ? ᴸᴵᴷᴱ, ᵂᴴᴬᵀ ᴷᴵᴺᴰ ᴼᶠ ᵂᴼᴿᴸᴰ ᴸᴵᵛᴱˢ ᴵᴺˢᴵᴰᴱ ᴼᶠ ᴴᴵᴹ?**

 

He wouldn’t question where the owner was though, as her presence rang through the room, a hum: sweet and pacifying, like that familiar lullaby. Brainz let it invite him further into the home, bringing him onto the tiled floor of his mother’s kitchen where she continued her song while working away on something good in a pie tin, with her back to the door: she was unaware of Brainz’s presence.

 

He jovially approached the maternal figure, feeling reassuring comfort as he neared. His small hand outstretched to gently tug on her garment, a sheepish way to ask for her attention and receive affection.

 

“ _Mom?”_

 

(...)

 

Her sweet song stopped abruptly, and she stood there motionlessly. The pleasantry in the air ceased as well, losing its equally sweet scent and picking up an overbearing coldness. Recognizable dread began to seep into the room where hospitality had become absent. The light patter of rain had grown into a harder rapping against the roof, sky charring into black storm clouds.

 

**ᵞᴼᵁ ᴷᴵᴰᴰᴵᴺᴳ ᴹᴱ? ᴵ ᶜᴬᴺ'ᵀ ᴱᵛᴱᴺ ᴮᴱᴳᴵᴺ ᵀᴼ ᶠᴬᵀᴴᴼᴹ ˢᴼᴹᴱᵀᴴᴵᴺᴳ ᴸᴵᴷᴱ ᵀᴴᴬᵀ... ᵂᴴᴬᵀ ᴵᴺᴴᵁᴹᴬᴺ ᵀᴴᴼᵁᴳᴴᵀˢ ᵀᴿᴬᴾᴾᴱᴰ ᴵᴺˢᴵᴰᴱ ᵀᴴᴵˢ ᴹᴬᴺ: ᵂᴴᴬᵀ ᴰᴿᴱᴬᴹˢ ᴼᶠ ᴵᴺᴰᴱˢᶜᴿᴵᴮᴬᴮᴸᴱ ᴱᵛᴵᴸ ᴬᴺᴰ ˢᵁˢᵀᴬᴵᴺᴱᴰ ᶜᴬᴸᴸᴼᵁˢᴺᴱˢˢ.**

 

He tried for her attention again, wanting it more from anxiety than anything else.

“M-mom what’s going on?....”

 

She still wouldn’t acknowledge him, adding to an exponentially mutating anxiety. Before he could fearfully try again, a loud **_*KRAKK!*_ ** from behind caused his heart to lurch, it wasn’t alone either, the sound of the now brutal storm became suddenly unbearable. Brainz turned fearfully to witness his home begin to deform as a massive hole in the ceiling gradually tore open larger as chunks of drywall and roofing were ripped away by deafening winds. He cupped his ears and dropped to the floor to hide from the surge in the storm, the sky monsooned from above as deathly cold water poured into the open room, drenching everything with jet black liquid.

 

The dark water began to show an ancillary effect to the destruction, as it soaked into everything: _everything_ began to decay right before Brainz’s eyes. Large, ugly, _jagged_ fissures burst out from the walls and floors, tearing them open with ear splitting percussion. They revealed soggy masses of lumped blackness that oozed and poured into the floor, from it: Insects (larvae or flying) spread from their creation. Colorless, thorn bearing vines shot across the room, grabbing hold of the crumbling walls and tearing them apart to give even more way for the monstrous storm to fill the room with its diabolical embrace.

 

**ᴺᴼ... ᴺᴼᵀ ᴱᵛᴱᴺ ᵀᴴᴬᵀ ᴵ ᶜᴬᴺ'ᵀ. ᴵ ᵂᴼᴺ'ᵀ: ᴳᴼᴰ ᴴᴱᴸᴾ ᵀᴴᴱ ˢᴼᵁᴸˢ ᵂᴴᴼˢ' ᴶᴼᴮ ᴵᵀ ᴵˢ ᵀᴼ ᵀᴿᵞ. ᴱᵛᴱᴺ ᴵᶠ ᵀᴴᴱᵞ ᴱᵛᴱᴿ ᴰᴵᴰ, ᴵ ᴺᴱᵛᴱᴿ ᵂᴬᴺᵀ ᵀᴼ ᴷᴺᴼᵂ.**

 

Brainz could only watch, petrified with fear as his very life rotted away from him. The petrification would become absolute as a horrible sensation beneath the water gnawed at his foot, tearing into his ankle. And as this water level rose from below him, every inch that it touched ceased to function paralyzing him gradually.  The terror was fully realized, and Brainz desperately begged for the woman beside him, still astoundingly unaware of the horror coming to from behind her.

 _“MOM! Help me! PLEASE!!_ **_MOM!!”_ **

 

**ᵞᴼᵁ ᴱᵛᴱᴿ ᵂᴼᴺᴰᴱᴿ ᵂᴴᵞ ᴳᴼᴰ ᴴᴬˢ ᴺᴱᵛᴱᴿ ᶜᴼᴹᴱ ᵀᴼ ᴱᴬᴿᵀᴴ? ᵂᴴᵞ ᵀᴴᴵᴺᴳˢ ᴸᴵᴷᴱ *ᵀᴴᴵˢ* ᴬᴿᴱ ᴬᴸᴸᴼᵂᴱᴰ ᵀᴼ ᴱˣᴵˢᵀ? ᴵᵀ'ˢ ᴮᴱᶜᴬᵁˢᴱ ᴴᴱ'ˢ ᵀᴼᴼ ᴬˢᴴᴬᴹᴱᴰ ᵀᴼ... ᵀᴼᴼ ᴬˢᴴᴬᴹᴱᴰ ᴼᶠ ᵀᴴᴱ ᴹᴼᴺˢᵀᴱᴿˢ ᴴᴱ'ˢ ᶜᴿᴱᴬᵀᴱᴰ.**

 

She turned from her peaceful occupation to face Brainz, slowly and steadily… unhurried and unaffected. It was as he finally began to make her out… that Brainz felt his senses surge into him.

 _THIS_ was not his home.

and _THAT_ was not his mother.

 

When it finished turning to face him, he could recognize it, recognize how it could be the most horrifying thing he had ever witnessed, the thing to lead his nightmares. The ghastly beast that stood before him days ago.

 

**“ᗰƳ... ᑕᕼᎥᒪᗪ….”**

At the center of this lucid ruination: whirlwinds carrying debris, the ungodly shriek of the wind transitioning into a choir of tormented screams and cries, liquid terror up to his knees now… Brainz stood before Toriel… or what _used_ to be her.

The snow white fur was now, scattered patches of ratty _filthy_ gray: combating her exposed _mangy,_ maggot crawling flesh. She was riddled with bullet holes that pierced through her very being, while gruesome lacerations and avulsions rent what little of her self remained. The once regale, beautifully crafted robe was nothing more than pieces of bloodied fabric… seemingly fused with her body. Blood percolated through every orifice and fissure from within her, the black around her began to cloud red with the color of spilt life.

 

What truly made this image, what cemented it into something traumatic, was her face. Above but not exempt from the injuries and rot… that face, glared into him. Into his very soul.

 

**ᶠᴼᴿ ᵂᴴᴬᵀ ᴸᴵᴱˢ ᴵᴺˢᴵᴰᴱ ᴼᶠ ᴴᴵᴹ... ᴵˢ ᴺᴼᵀ ᵀᴴᴱ ᴱᴺˢᴺᴬᴿᴱᴹᴱᴺᵀ ᴼᶠ ᴰᴵˢᴱᴬˢᴱ ᴺᴼᴿ ˢᴵᶜᴷᴺᴱˢˢ ᴼᶠ ᵀᴴᴱ ᴹᴵᴺᴰ. ᴮᵁᵀ ᴬ ᴾᴵᴱᶜᴱ ᴼᶠ ᴴᴱᴸᴸ ᴵᵀˢᴱᴸᶠ.**

 

Vacant, sunken eyes affixed into a piercing stare; ears cut short by gnaw marks, flies spawning from an opening to rotted gray matter atop her head… and to finalize the look, disgusting yellowed teeth, forced into a rictus, _maddened_ grin that reached both of her ears.

 

**“lσσk αt mє, í sαч, lσσk αt mє, dσn't чσu dαrє lσσk αwαч, lσσk αt mє í sαч.”**

 

The mouth moved, as it demanded Brainz take in the horror smiling before him, he tried to disobey it, to get away from it all… but his body failed him, going numb as the black reached his stomach, he was forced to stare right back at her.

**"ḶṏṏḲ ḀṮ ẇḧḀṮ ẏṏṳ'Ṽḕ ḊṏṆḕ... ḶṏṏḲ ḀṮ ẇḧḀṮ ẏṏṳ'Ṽḕ ḊṏṆḕ Ṯṏ ṁḕ, ẎṎṲ ḊḭḊ ṮḧḭṠ Ṯṏ ṁḕ. ẎṎṲ ḲḭḶḶḕḊ ṁḕ. ẎṎṲ ḧḀṼḕ ḊṏṆḕ ṮḧḭṠ.”**

 

She growled at him, gurgling and rapsing projecticle bloody vomit.

 

Brainz looked to his Ḡ _ṲḬḶṮẎ_ hands that trembled and shook, the scars once closed split open: hemorrhaging red that traveled down his palms and began to coarse up his arms, undoing previously healed wounds and worsening the bleeds. He shook his head, clenching his hands to staunch the bleeding, a futile effort as the water overcame his arms, advancing to his chest while enforcing a gut wrenching agony to his stomach below while Toriel’s feet were barely submerged. Brainz clenched his eyes shut as hard as he could and yelled with terror and agony though his sealed teeth. He struggled with every bit of remaining life he had and while he did, he sought to contest with the demon before him. Instilled with the urge to fight it.

“ _NO!_ No I didn’t! _YOU_ wouldn’t come with me! I _could’ve_ helped you! It’s _your_ fault you died! Not mine! _LEAVE ME ALONE!!”_

 

A demonic laugh teased him mercilessly from outside his darkness, as the dreadful feeling made it up to his neck. “Toriel” refuted his denial with great prejudice and roared at him.

“ **ḦḀḦḀḦḀḦḀḦḀḦḀḦḀ...  ṠṮṎṖ ḶẎḬṆḠ ṮṎ ẎṎṲṘṠḔḶḞ, ṮḦḬṠ ḬṠ ḀḶḶ ẎṎṲṘ ḞḀṲḶṮ: ẎṎṲ ḊḬḊ ṮḦḬṠ ṮṎ ṀḔ.”**

 

Brainz thrashed the little he had above his shoulders and yelled violently, denying the monster.

“ **_BULLSHIT!_ ** _I did everything I could! They only got you because YOU wouldn’t listen to me! It’s NOT my fault!”_

 

The argument only grew in ferocity with the storm, the creature sounded off louder than ever.

**“ḶḬḔṠ! ṠṎ ṀḀṆẎ ḶḬḔṠ! ẆḦẎ ḊṎ ẎṎṲ ḬṆṠḬṠṮ ṎṆ ḦḬḊḬṆḠ ḂḔḦḬṆḊ ṮḦḔṀ? ẆḦẎ ẆṎṆ'Ṯ ẎṎṲ ḞḀḈḔ ẆḦḀṮ ẎṎṲ'ṼḔ ḊṎṆḔ!? ẆḦẎ ḊṎ ẎṎṲ ṘḔḞṲṠḔ ṮṎ ḞḀḈḔ ṀḔ?!”**

 

The water was now reaching for his chin, his head completely immobilized by its petrifying grasp… it only touched what was left of Toriel’s knees, it didn’t seem to affect her because she tread right up to Brainz, he hadn’t seen this: with his eyes refusing to open, but he could _hear_ her moving towards him, somehow above the noise.

 

**“ẎṎṲ... ḀṘḔ ṆṎṮḦḬṆḠ ḂṲṮ Ḁ ḈṎẆḀṘḊ, Ḁ ẆṎṘṮḦḶḔṠṠ ṖḬḔḈḔ ṎḞ ṠḦḬṮ! ṆṎṮḦḬṆḠ ḂṲṮ Ḁ ḞṎṎḶ, ṠḦṘḬṆḲḬṆḠ ḀṮ ṮḦḔ ṠḦḀḊṎẆ ṎḞ ẎṎṲṘ ṎẆṆ ḀḈṮḬṎṆṠ... ṖḀṮḦḔṮḬḈ! Ḭ ḊḔṀḀṆḊ ẎṎṲ, ḞḀḈḔ ṀḔ!, ṎṖḔṆ ẎṎṲṘ ḔẎḔṠ! ḀḈḈḔṖṮ ẆḦḀṮ ẎṎṲ'ṼḔ ḊṎṆḔ!”**

 

The liquid began to seep passed his mouth and nose, breathing became impossible, but above all of his efforts… resisting her became his top priority, and he remained still as a corpse. While the more “alive” corpse: angered the refusal to acknowledge her… released a guttural roar that shook the very existence they shared, it yelled once more.

 

**“Ḭ... ṠḀḬḊ... ḞḀḈḔ ṀḔ!!!!!!!”**

 

The water was at the brink of his eyes, he’d left only the choice to listen to the demon, but he persisted. Begging to assert the little power he had. The rotting demon dropped a tier of aggression, seemingly accepting their defeat… but not without their retaliation.

 

**“ẎṎṲ ḊṎṆ'Ṯ ẆḀṆṮ ṮṎ ḔṆḊ ṮḦḬṠ? ḞḬṆḔ... Ḭ'Ṁ ṆṎ ḶṎṆḠḔṘ ḀṠḲḬṆḠ, ẎṎṲ'ṘḔ ḀḶṀṎṠṮ ṎṲṮ ṎḞ ṮḬṀḔ... ṠṎ Ḭ'ḶḶ ḊṎ ḬṮ ḞṎṘ ẎṎṲ.”**

 

Amidst all the chaos and doom, and castigation inflicted on him from inches away… with the death liquid pouring into his ears… he heard the sound. The inexplicable sound… distinguished sound,   _familiar_ sound… all because _that_ sound… was **_scary._ **  

 ***** **_Ka-LICK!*_ **

 

When he heard it, he had to open his eyes again… not for the monster who once demanded so: but for what made that sound… what lay clutched in her sinewy grip.

 

 **ᴺᴼᵂ ᴸᴼᴼᴷ ᴬᵀ** **_ᵀᴴᴵˢ_ ** **ˢᵂᴱᴱᵀᴴᴱᴬᴿᵀ, ᵂᴴᴬᵀ ᴬ ᴾᴿᴱᵀᵀᵞ ᴸᴵᵀᵀᴸᴱ ᴾᴵᴱᶜᴱ. .45 ᴬ ᶜ ᴾ, ᵀᵁᶜᴷᴱᴰ ᴮᴱᴴᴵᴺᴰ ᴶᵁˢᵀ ᴼᵛᴱᴿ 4 ᴵᴺᶜᴴᴱˢ ᴼᶠ ᴮᴬᴿᴿᴱᴸ. ᵀᴴᴱ ᶜᴼᴸᵀ ᶜᴼᴹᴹᴬᴺᴰᴱᴿ, ᶠᴼᴿ ᴴᴵᴳᴴ ˢᵀᴬᴺᴰᴬᴿᴰ ᴷᴵᴸᴸᴵᴺᴳ.**

 

From the blackness consuming the world, it came to her rotting claws: shaping into form. Toriel looked right at the thing, and then to Brainz. She pointed his own gun at him and her face gnarled into a horrible grin.

 

When Brainz braced for the blow coming just before the water would swallow him completely, the last moments of sentience trained on the monster holding it… the unsureness stabbed him from oblivion, and Toriel gave onto him, to her… a transgression far worse than executing the human. She turned the gun to her exposed brain… and gave Brainz a sadistic _wink._ Clicking her tongue at him, then pulling the trigger.

The sound of the blast punctured through the enveloping liquid and tore into Brainz, the final act served as the peak for this moment of terror: Brainz tried to yell as loud as he could, but the only thing that came out was a blood curdling muffle, losing resonation to the water. He screamed and screamed into the blackness, losing more air with each futile cry reminding him of how helpless he truly was at this point. It took and took more from him as fate of drowning edged ever so closer. He was all but forced to fade away… until something _took_ him from the end.

 

From insurmountable cold death, the sensation of movement was thrashed into him, violently yanked around his waist like a rope snare. He was pulled relentlessly from his bleak existence, and as it continued to force him away: his life force was pulled back into him. As erratic as it was: trying to escape him, his body; reunited with it: adopted a similar attitude and once again felt the force of movement. His arms, his legs, no longer numb and no longer defeated, furiously struggled with their newfound reprieve as they pushed and pushed, mutual to the grip, dragging him so. It was without direction or cause, only thrashing so from mere ability… until the life returned to an eye, and its welcome back was given the sight of light… and ebbing water.

 

The panic was still fresh in him, it did all but diminish as he convulsed, lungs screaming for oxygen, and Brainz avoided reaching _his_ end, by reaching the end of the water and bursting from the surface.

* * *

 

“ **_NAAAUUUUGHHH!”_ **

The dismayed objection, long delayed from the vision finally sounded off from him, his vocal chords screeched. Then the guttural impulse forced him to take an awfully huge gasp, too soon and too fast. The frantic hyperventilation and induced trauma were catalyzed by the gasp and they stirred a more violent reaction. A hiccup abruptly formed into a coarse belching like noise, before something else came from this throat. Just as he sprang out of the suffocating wet death, Brainz collapsed back to his knees: bringing himself right back to the water, too weak to sustain his balance as he turned himself inside out, vomiting the suffocation out from his lungs, tinted with red. He cycled this, a series of burning coughs and seering raspy hacks flaring through his shredded throat, then a painful convulsion inducing more vomiting. A breath of involuntary air would repeat the whole process, and Brainz was forced to withstand it… but he couldn’t stand. The thing that had grabbed him from death was persisting… holding him back from submerging again.

 

Minutes had slowly and painfully passed when it had finally stopped, the impulses reduced to shallow wretches and miserable hiccups while red saliva dripped from his mouth. At this point, he could only control a meager and more shallow breath, still on his hands and knees: trembling with weakness.

 

“Ohh… g _oo-ood…_ Oh… Goddd… Oh.. god..

Phew…”

 

He groaned with the little will he had… calling out… nobody was going to help him though: not god, not himself, it was a useless cry for help. He was in this misery.

_GrEEN_

_slaNtED_

_GreeN_

 

_[My head hurts...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTgcIqIsiPs) _

 

 _gREEn_ _Green_

_GREeN_

_Misery.-_

 

He groaned… _Everything_ hurt _…_ everything was painful… moving… breathing… _existing._ The icy embrace of death stuck to his flesh and soaked his clothes. Brainz was all shook up, cold and tired to the bone, lying in a pool of his own diluted vomit.

 

 _But   the tinGlies were tHere  all_ _ovER_

_over_

_oVer_

_ovEr_

_his fingers_

_fingerS_

_and_

 

_toes like_

 

_fly_

_flyfly_

_flies._

 

_Pins and_

_needles and_

_cones_

_green_

_greengreen_

_green._

 

-He felt his head, it felt like it had broken into one thousand pieces, like someone took a sledgehammer to it.

 

_SomE of thE_

 

 _pI_ _S_ _e_ _pi_ _e EE e_

 _E_ _Pi_ _Pei_

 _Pies_ _Ce_ _cE s e P ec s_

 _Piece_ _S_

 _ssssSSSs_ _PeEI_ _1_ _Pieces._

 

 

_Felt like F L O A TING AWAYYY_

_But some were_

**_TOO HEAVY_** **_TOO HEAVY_** **_TOO HEAVY_** **_TOO HEAVY_**

 _But the reST, were,_ ** _TOO HEAVY,_**  to _F L y_ _===-=-=-=-=-=- >>_ _A way!_

ThEy WeIghed

Them

**DOWNDOWNDOWDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWN.**

 

His vision was blurred, and full of stars… and no matter how hard he tried to focus on _anything._ His eyes would deviate somewhere else.

 

_He couldn’’’’’’’’’’’’’t  HeL_

_Ll_

_llL_

_Lll_

_Lll_

_LPP_

**_iT_ **

_(-o-)_

_HiS His     HIS hIs_

_(_ **_EYE)      (EYE)_ **

**_`_** **_(S)_**

**_W                E_ **

**_E      R_ **

****

 

_oN DiFFeRENT_

_FreqUENC IES_

_Than tHE_

**RADIO**

_IT WAS WRONG, AND THE OTHER ONE,_

_A_ _T_ _E_ _Like_

 _R_ _AT_ _TL_ _ED_ _A_

 _T_ _L_ _D_ _G(O)( . ) GLEy  eyE._

_Why would he trust it?-_

 

Brainz had to wait for the world to slow down from its revolution, just enough so he could even begin to look for sense… he was incapable of creating sense. The sense was non existent.., the lack of which was absolute… it was _nonsense._ He couldn’t remember anything to make sense of, it was all stagnant ramblings.

 

_But tHe spin cycle was on and forthright, you just couldn’t stop him!_

_NOO sense of dirTy, like an overzealous washer machine, just tAke away the moving parts and the world is anyman’s game, just fiND the keys and you’re a turn oVeR: henceforth!_

 

“Okay…. Okay…”

He whispered gently, still wheezing, trying to fully depart from a nightmare he already couldn’t recall.

“Let’s… Get up…”

He tried intensely to stand up, at least a bid to get most of himself out of this liquid ice. Too soon, too _dizzy._ He fell, and had trouble getting back to where he started.

 

_It was far_

  
  


_Too  s l    o w,_

_You can’t go_ **_[ 343 m/s ]_ **

**_-10_ **

_And then back to normal, it just isn’t done!_

_He was feeling it now._

 

He couldn’t get anywhere, not like this: his head felt too large to hold up, not ideal when drowning was the cost of failure. He needed a break… a chance to get himself back. With further strain, he was able to perk his head up just enough to look around. Everything outside of an arm’s reach was either pitch black or too blurry and double visioned to be distinguishable. But there _were_ things within arm’s reach… Brainz was surrounded by uniform planks of wood marked by bright yellow petals, spawned from the entrails of a boat or some implausible good fortune.

 

_Huh… look at that,_

_LOOK_ _SoMeBoDy_

**_M U R D E R E D_ **

**_a GIGANTIC_** _Gameboard_  

 

 _And ThRew_ _the   Pieces_ _poce_

 _Oiece_ _Piecws_

 _Piece_ _Piec_ _Poied_

_Pieces at you!_

 

_It’s a GOOD thing they *miss*ed._

_Thank goodness yes._

_Yes of course, but all the paint got washed off from the water, that’s a shame: it’s a GOOD thing that unpainted entrails are far more buoyant than decorated ones. Just don’t call the PTA._

 

He managed to grab onto one of the pieces and test its buoyancy, it didn’t even move: he was too preoccupied to care… he just needed to lay down… to make it stop.

**_“Ooouaahhggh…”_ **

It was far easier said than done… he struggled to move his body,  it hurt. But he did manage to flop himself onto the wood and _something_ creaked when he did… it probably wasn’t the wood, he moaned right after. Brainz laid there feeling like a dead rat… floating in the pool. He couldn’t afford the energy to writhe in agony, no… that’d have to wait until his head stopped pulsating, he needed to contain that.

 

 _The keys are broken, they_ **_H U R T._ **

_It HURTS so much… Please… make it stop…_

_But it can’t feel it…  like a dull rang, it not going to know._

_It just… hurts..._

 

He was facing a lot of physical grievance… but there was no imminent danger, at least nothing so far. So he was able to be CALM… he _had_ to be, he was on the verge of sicking up again, and he couldn’t stand as it was. It _was_ time to get a bearing… but slowly, one breath at a time. So he let the pain be… and paced his breaths, using them to whisper to himself, something to ground himself back to reality a voice that made sense.

 

“Okay… Okay… take it easy, buddy… take it easy… nice and easy.

Alright… where am I now?”

 

Staring languidly up into space was... _helpful…_ at the very least, but not very conclusive. From the looks of it, someone forgot to put in a sky, or stars, or just about anything, just a an empty canvas made of black. As tall as it was though, the size wasn’t too ideal, huge walls closed in the space on all but one side. The sound of rushing water that _wasn’t_ akin to the fluid in his ears, belonged to the waterfall running down one of the long walls.

 

“Ravine” was the first thing that came to mind… when he remembered what that word meant...

 

_Something Smells…. No really, Something smells BAD, you must’ve fallen into Paul Bunyan’s Porta John._

 

He could barely get any air through his crusty inflamed nostrils, and when he did: he wished they’d completely closed up, he became a mouth breather on the spot.

 

“ _Euaghuhh..”_

Brainz cupped his nose and looked around, this time at the water… he was less than thrilled that he could see better. He wasn’t alone in the water after all, he’d taken the company of a spectrum of sorts, foul to absolutely repugnant looking things. Mushy browned newspapers, schools of plastic floaters, islands made of anything-but biodegradable masses of _“God Knows What”_

 

The abject horror singed his nose hairs and put a twitch in his eyes.

“Oh my god it’s a landfill… I’m in a garbage dump-”

 

The twitch became worse and almost turned into a wretch, Brainz looked at the water again… how it had a “skin” on the top.

 

“- oh god… _blugh…_ I was swimming in that!... I inhaled that… oh god…”

He convulsed and gagged, spitting the taste of sewer from his mouth… but accepted his disgusting situation and groaned.

 

“How did I even… like… uhh…. _Get_ here? What was I… **_doing_ ** last night?”

Brainz went to roll over, to get a look down the passage of garbage that _wasn’t_ confined, he nudged his right shoulder to move and was treated with a nasty jabbing sensation that throbbed just as much. He _immediately_ stopped and placed himself right back on his back, moving from the slight panic just a bit too fast for comfort.

 

“ _Oh!_ _  
_ _Ooh! Oh, Oooo…_ Ow! Ouch ouch ouch, Ohh… _that’s_ not a good feeling!”

 

He clutched his shoulder instinctively with his other hand and felt a smaller flare up of pain from the contact, his hand could feel the frightening gap in his shirt and the flesh under it, it felt _deep._ And despite being soaked, he could feel the lukewarm slime liquid seeping out with each twinge.

“Oooh.. ohh.. No… _oof…_ hoo man..”

A quick look at his hand, bringing it to his face: and he’d put it right back and keep it there. The saturation of scarlet lifeforce dripping off of it was enough to frighten him.

 

 _The_ **_red_ ** _dancers were following up on the surface but they couldn’t conform into the depths on the ripple. This is a BAD thing, how quaint! It’s not superfluous, because it TOTALLY would be like that._

 

He consulted himself with a feverish whisper, holding pressure on the wound, and blowing his breaths to keep calm.

“I think _this_ takes the cake for fucked up blackouts. I’ve had some real nasty sons of bitches before, but not like _this!_   _Pheeeooow…_ God… Damn.”

 

The saddest part of this was, it barely earned its distinction. The accommodations weren’t too new. It was just… he’d woken up in plenty of dumpsters before, and maybe that one time: a garbage truck… but never actually at the dump. The middleman was cut out from this one.

 

Another dull throb in his head caused him to clench his teeth hard, feeling “bubbling” behind his eyes and a **_*pop!*_ ** in his ears.

 _“Rrrgnhg!_ God this hurts! Where are my goddamned pills?!”

 

Brainz had to use his damaged arm to pat his sides for his pockets… he only lost more coolness upon failing to find his coat pockets, he _was_ starting to wake up more though.

“Wha, wha: where’s my stuff? What is all this bullshit? Wha…”

 

He tilted his head up, using agitation to ignore the dizziness, time for introspection.

“Thi… thi… this isn’t my coat… what even _is_ this shit? A rugby sweater? Why the hell do I have this shit? Jesus christ… what the bloody fuck did I _DO_ last night?!”

It was a soggy wool sweater, it felt itchy and slimy.

 

_That’s pretty gross… that stink’s gonna hug you like a snake on a donut. Try showering with acid to make it better._

 

He began to stir aggressively, squirming around on his back while looking for his livelihoods missing from his pockets.

His trusty pistols were gone, and so were his “Make life not suck so much” pills. He was laying here completely lost and without a trace of himself.

 

_The toy battery bombs weren’t helpful either: parsing the jubilant colours like mad. Given his juxtaposition, this was quite inconsiderate-_

 

“ _Ghuh!_ That’s retarded! Like this stupid place, what in the ever loving heap of Mary Magdalene's blue shit did I _do?_ Why let me live to experience the joy of swimming in garbage water if I’m just going to bleed out or get an infection!”

He jostled some more, complaining and whining from how much it hurt and how much life “stunk” right now. Brainz was on the verge of a full blown temper tantrum and would’ve gotten there following a complete breakdown… if something didn’t catch his eye and cause him to stop the act cold.

 

Brainz had seen some of the bright yellow petals floating around, but only now did he discover their source, a large patch of yellow flowers, floating in the water beside him in a big clump… the vibrant petals held his attention for some reason. And he _really_ could see now that they were truly everywhere. Hundreds of them floating independently: dressing the wood he lay on, or forming miniature islands. More oddly, they seemed to shed their yellow colour, the closer they were to Brainz: the closest ones were blood red… obviously dyed from the amount of red he was shedding.

 

_Not only that the RED ones could talk! And they did. They tried him ,they tried his humanity, yes they did._

_“It’s all going to be over soon.”_

_“Just a BAD dreem”_

 

But this big pile of flowers… they just took his attention more than his ailing arm and sense of reprising despair. It was a _familiar_ sight… he’d seen those flowers before he could swear on it… but couldn’t explain why he would.

 

_Stupid fLowers, going and growing all over tHe place. Who’s the kind of idiot that asks the pied pipe to do that? Who would like… DO  something liKE that?_

_Now look, the REDs are laughing at you… they think its funny._

_Flowers… Puh-lease… Tee- Eee- Ayy- TACKY… like god! At least Tor_ iel makes them classy, they make her place look pretty actually, kind of like her-”

 

“Shut up already! _God!_ What are you _EVEN-”_

In the midst of an outburst to… not himself? Brainz stopped the momentum.

“-Wait… hold on a sec… these actually _did_ look nice in her place…

Who am I talking about again?”

 

In the light of that inquiry, Brainz felt a spark go off followed by a non negotiable urge to look at the “rugby sweater” again.

Right away, he could tell that even if the thing wasn’t soaked and sagging, torn and covered in blood and dumpster juice… that it still would’ve looked _off._ There was an indecision at  the collar…like it wanted to be a turtleneck but couldn’t fully commit… and the way it almost reached his knees, this thing was _way_ too big. But all in all...

The thing…

Just…

Looked…

 **_JUVENILE…_ ** and also really big, but then it explained itself finally.

 

_“Here… I want you to have this too: It’s probably a little too big for you, It was really too big for anyone else(...)_

_... it’s *cold* out there and I don’t want you to catch one…_

_… it was one of my first tries at sewing, I’m not the best at it.”_

 

He felt a sense of exuberance come over him, a stark contrast to where he was now. Brainz felt his backup generators starting over, and he began to wake up: increasing functionality. He sat up, overcoming the dizzy feeling. The blockade in his thoughts passed and he felt all the pieces being to shift back into place.

 

“Oh riiight! That’s it, I remember now! Yeah! She gave me this because… I… Uhmm….  Was…. Uhhhh… without… my.. Erm… Uhh…”

 

He stammered and tried to keep up the roll he was on, still in a positive way… but another chunk of thought came in and he became more… _neutral_ to it.

 

“She uhh… kept calling me her “child” of all things like she uhm… was like, trying to be… like my… my… my _thing!_ My mother, yes Yeah right… she was _weird…_  And then she had that…. That…. That pet goat.”

 

Brainz still held onto his wounded arm, but he finally got to his feet and stood on them without falling over, the wood tiles helped too, he was so tunnel visioned on recalling the past that he didn’t even notice his return to ability or the rising stench.

 

“No, that wasn’t it-” He snapped his fingers and looked up for thought- “It was… it was… Uhh… shit… was the _goat’s_ name Toriel? I can’t…. Huhhhhmm…”

 

_You twit, She didn’t HAVE a goat, she WAS a goat._

 

“What? Noooo...  that’s… ridiculous…”

If he was so sure about that, then he would’ve said it with more confidence and less delirium, he tittered with a weak smile… that only lost more and more strength as his face sank.

 

“Aheh… heh………. Huhh…. _Huhhhhh….”_

 

The recollection was almost done… everything became more vivid, and the mental images glared at him… as he passed them through: they spoke to him like a talking exhibit in a tour.

_-Eight foot tall_

_-Anthropomorphic_

_-Sentient_

_-English Speaking…_

 

“Magical-” He swallowed a lump of sandpaper in his throat. “- Goat Lady….”

 

The moment he finished the sentence, the exuberance was gone: and the memories started up, a full marathon of everything that lead up to here.

_Best seats in the house, front row center._

 

His only comments consisted of timid whines stretching into winces, the places that hurt twinged when their prime times were shown again.

“Ohhh.. noo-noo noo-noo.. noooooo….”

 

He rubbed his eyes and sighed miserably while they itched: irritated from the liquid nasty on his hands. He got to look down with a drooping head when the end of the movie played, his terrified yell echoing from above. His shoulder throbbed. As harrowing as the recollection was, it was incomplete. It required the concrete evidence, lucky for him: he found a dark shape submerged on the floor just below him, one that stood out amidst a dead basketball and an eviscerated shoe.

Brainz crouched down and reached into the icy cold depths, clumsily searching around the shape and retching when something else touched him. He strangely hesitated to bring it up when he finally grabbed it despite wanting to get his arm out. But what was the rush, reality felt like a shotgun laying on the ground.

 

“Nuh-ooh….”

 

His weapon was a lump of ice in his hand, it was cold and waterlogged just like Brainz.: covered in the entrails of the shoe and dressed with pasty tissues. Water and indescribable residues poured from within its intricate insides.

Brainz just stood there and held the thing like a dear child, a kindred spirit: their last breath gone by minutes, caressing it with redundant care. He swallowed something hard and looked up to the abyss above his breathing became labored again.

 

He tried… impulsively to rack the slide, something drove him to try. But it was all in vain… Brainz expected it to be, the weapon had seized up and fallen into a coma: to wake and to kill, nevermore. He make a snort inside, and nodded with a forced smirk. The gun was almost placed carefully at his feet… clattering and spitting water when it fell for the the last foot… Brainz forced his unsteady arm into his pants pockets, trying to remember the only good thing he had.

 

_Of… fucking… COURSE._

 

He wrestled his hand through the slimey pouches, feeling for what should’ve been there. But to an increasingly bleak outlook… of _course_ the things that weren’t horrible, now were. His hand didn’t find a desperately needed, dwindling supply of cigarettes… no. It found an unrecognizable mass of pulp and tobacco that ran down his sleeve when he held it up. At least the lighter still worked, just a little grimey … zippos were pretty reliable. The soggy carcinogens though, were promptly thrown away.

 

_I’m… FINE…. It’s.. no big deal…_

 

In the other pocket… a similarly abused  “firearm”, but the lack of moving parts in this one meant a little water wouldn’t change much, it wouldn’t change the fact that it held _much_ less salvation than his now defunct twelve gauge: it just made the bleak feeling worse. Self defense? A fat chance… but the easy way out? It was starting to look better every minute he was conscious. Brainz let the gun slide back into his wet jeans, they rode him when he sat down again, starting to rash. It was all there now… his past giving him nightmares, his present giving him regrets, and his future clouding up. Brainz came to the realization that he’d not simply returned to hell when he woke up, he’d just fallen further down.

 

He looked at the sea of rubbish unresponsively while his mind browned out in places… but amidst aimless staring... another thing caught his attention and he went for it. Another lump of cold metal… a _familiar_ lump of cold metal, rearing its head as the water escaped in a mini waterfall. It had a black banana peel on it, it was kind of unwieldy, and it didn’t belong to Brainz. But he knew exactly what it was and why it was here, when its owner tried to grab his weapon… when it **_*BROKE*_ ** off, being too stubborn to let go. When *SHE* pushed him off of the dock… she was down one metal gauntlet cut off just up the forearm… while Brainz was down in a garbage pit. Brainz silently observed the thing… looking at it from all angles similar to a child appraising a new toy… but far less joyful. He let his other hand leave the bleeding wound again, just so he could pick up his weapon and hold it next to the glove.

 

_FIVE… This is FIVE._

_The RED’s… they’re… laughing at you. They KNOW, they ALL KNOW. They jest they dance, it’s all a joke. They knew what was down the rabbit’s hole… all the way. You wouldn’t die… oh noo! You’ll just end up here, all roads lead to rome. You amount to unsurmountable garbage._

 

“Undyne threw me away…”

Brainz chuckled and coughed when it became too honest. He added to the “fun” with a delirious grin and a malfunctioning tone.

“-they think I’m _garbage._ ”

 

It was the most horrible thing he could think of… but at the same time: it was just… _so_ funny. It was funny as hell all of a sudden. And he erupted into a grating chuckle, hacking more of his lungs out between each bout.

 

_All in good company, look at them all!_

 

His hands gave up on their previous vocations, they only wanted to hold his face now as he lost it… one of them would smear its print onto his face, with blood pastel. Brainz took notice and spat out the iron taste from his lips and looked at all the blood on him, it made him laugh even more. He balled up and kicked his legs childishly, busting a gut… but then it stopped as abruptly as it started, 2 minutes of convulsing with laughter slamming to a halt… He stood up… and held both of this things out… then his hand gave up on the shotgun-

 

**_*Ker-sploosh!*_ **

-and he silently watched it sink… the bloody handprint dissipating as it succumbed to the brown cloudy liquid… the gun would never be handled again...

 

(...)

“you…. **_bastard!!”_ **

 

Brainz suddenly burst, affixing hate into Undyne’s glove and drilling fury to her name: then coughed more into his sleeves, it hurt to yell, let alone even talk. But that didn’t stop him from the screaming, making a noise unlike he had ever before…. the exertion on his windpipe from before coupled with near drowning had all but crippled his voice. Now… anything registering above a whisper was barred by a throaty rasp. Anything louder and he’d follow it with deep bouts of coughing. But he _did_ get louder, a cry into the world.

 

“ **You! Fucking….** **_BASTARDS!!!”_ **

**_DAUGH!!!_**

 

The glove was whipped at the rocky wall with full might **_*CRASH*ing_ ** with percussion before sliding back into the cold depths below. Brainz cringed painfully, holding his hand over his sore, torn up chest and wrapping his arm to his shoulder once more. But then he was at it again, taking in the whole picture of rotting despair then yelling it to the world above, forcing an octave the highest he could go, desperate and angry.

 

“All of you.. _._ **_Fuck_ ** **…. ALL OF** **_YOOOOOOUUUU!!!”_ **

The large room only resonated his anger right back to him, it yelled back.

 

Brainz eventually succumbed to a bloody coughing fit which robbed him of his balance, and he fell over onto the patch of flowers lounging on them like a body… but then he threw his head up and screamed again, louder.

 

_They surrounded him, a whirlwind of crimson faces, they continued to demean him._

 

“Fuck-chhhking… **_DAAAAMN-ITTT!!!!”_ **

He lashed and whipped around, striking and throwing his limbs around madly despite the overbearing soreness and the nausea, he didn’t care: he _couldn’t_ care. Not this blindsided and tunnel visioned on his agony.

Then the retaliation for exerting himself came in, and he took it with a prematurely massive gasp and expelled all of every negative feeling he had into an intense, anguished yell. He’d sit there, kicking and screaming… holding that pained noise for seven seconds without a break, its echos would live longer… for minutes until they’d dissipate. When they passed, he had one last unexpected fit. A final expulsion from him as he leant over his shoulder to sick up the largest and reddest force of projectile vomit into the water, a drop in the bucket for how filthy it was.

 

(...)

 

He’d let it out for quite a bit… he only stopped because he had nothing left. No more anger, energy, or will. Whatever this world hadn’t taken from him… he’d released it all… and felt it dissipate as he struggled to breath, to even _want_ to breathe.

 

_It’s not funny anymore… I don’t like this anymore… please, stop._

 

He was shivering down to his very soul, huddled into himself for warmth and scraps of comfort. But what good would it do…it didn’t matter. He began to fester… he could _feel_ something eating away at his brain, consuming any lousy modicums of hope he had and defecating paranoid excrements… not even. After a while… they felt less like paranoia, and more like something sensible.

He’d stopped hearing all the voices and noises for once… an astronomical occurrence, it wasn’t typical to think so… **_clearly,_ ** but when he did… he began to think bigger: not just for _now,_ but both directions of *THEN* Something his alter ego had  feared… but it was eerily silent, absent from his thoughts like it hadn’t woken up with him. He wasn’t going to wait for a second opinion.

Brainz wasn’t mad because he lost his things, his _chance._ He was mad because he’d been lying to himself… this outcry was nothing more than hard realization that he had been a fool. He’d never _had_ a chance, he was dead the minute he fell down, but the world had decided to make it slow and painful, riddled with lies and false hopes. It was just going to get worse and worse, the more he struggled… if only he saw this before all the beatings, but he fell for it… just like they all wanted him to. That sadist skeleton and his psycho brother… that metal wearing rage mongering beast… and even Toriel…

 

_She was in on it… right?_

_She_ **_couldn’t!..._ ** _I don’t know… maybe…_

_I can’t… I … don’t…_

 

Brianz held onto his pounding head, a stream of red shot from his nostrils. He couldn’t think of this anymore.

For the first time ever: he thought. He was seeing clearly the BIG picture it was SO obvious… and it only took a drug withdrawal  and this head injury-

 

_But it WASN’T a head injury, the pain is the sting of REALITY, the concussion is a blaring crack through your skull, the red light washing away all the LIES._

 

-to reach this absolute point… Brainz finally had a thought that was his and his alone… not contested by ANYONE, not even himself.

So, he came up with his plan finally…

He lifted up his soaked shirt and felt for something he remembered, and there they were still tightly clipped to his belt loops, still here.  Like a long desired indulgence… He took the rounder of the devices and held it up for him to inspect, like an inscription on a shiny bauble… it presented to him.

 

**_M67_ **

 

But he read between the yellow painted lines… a truth… it spoke to him, an irrefutable truth.

_You haven’t lost your ability to choose, monsters could never take me away from you… they will always fail to. Hold up your head and laugh that arrogant laugh of yours… because in the end, it’ll be on your terms. You will die… pissing someone off, and that’s all that matters._

 

He read the label one more time and threaded his finger through the safety pin, the little ornament that would determine his fate. Precariously waiting for the decision, all it needed was a little intent…in the form of a pull. Once it was gone, the arm was awake… and all he had to do was throw it: or just simply let go… he choose what he’d do before he even held the explosive, it was for _him._

And this time… there’d be no catch: no uncertainty, no lies posing as a benevolent savior. He was going to destroy himself… there wouldn’t be much left to save, let alone scrape off the walls. No amount of _green_ would rob him of his fate… no matter how much she tried.

Brainz closed his eyes and took a deep, wavering sigh and began to squeeze on the pin, gently guiding it away from the lever… holding it just in front of his face to ensure there’d be no coming back… he waited for all of his breath to leave- and then-

 

“Howdy!”

 

 

 


	12. Uncemented Allies.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Come, and share a BROKEN smile X  
> Come, and share a TWISTED smile X  
> Come, and share a DEMENTED smile X
> 
> Come, and share a [REDACTED] SMILE
> 
> Floral drifting, a false sweetness filters over the refuse of all that was abandoned. 
> 
> Ring around the rosie  
> A pocket full of posies.
> 
> You are not alone.

“Howdy!”

[Your *NEW* Best Friend.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChyYDT_Altg&feature=youtu.be)

It came from behind him, like _right_ behind him.

 

“ _GHI-!”_

Brainz’s head cringed into his shoulders and dove off of the platform,  right back into the nasty water, and spinning around like a turtle on his back, all with the dexterity of an anesthetized cat. He choked on his breath and retched, but sat up and upon failing to find anything to blame, he blurted out an impulse that sounded like one word: he said it so fast.

“Hoosed _hh_ dat?!” (Who said that)

 

Following it once his frantic look found nobody, with a blurted threat condensed into one word.

“I’llBloUZ’BOU’dUbitS!”(I’ll blow us both to bits)

“YygjjOuHYruself!! (Show yourself)

 

Brainz leapt to his feet, the adrenaline giving him wings, and strung up high. Hunched into an attack position with his hands readied to throw the bomb down at his feet, anyone in this trench would still be destroyed by the shrapnel.

“Huh!

WheREa _RR_ Yu?!” (Where are you)

Brainz looked all around but found no one to attest… holding his position though he became affixed to an overlooked _glistening_ thing on his bloodied hand, a silver contrast to the red….right on the stub finger too. He squinted at it for a second… unsure what it wa-

_It’s the safety pin._

-It was the safety pin.

 

Brainz then looked to his _other_ hand, the one holding the explosive and noticed the difference.

 

A bit of stuttering.

“Wa.. wait, wha-”

 

He’d inadvertently confirmed the decision to use the grenade _now._ And upon letting it go, there was no stopping it, and when he found this out-

 

“ _Ghah!!”_

Brainz’s hands fought with each other on what to do, both concluded that they should fumble around with the grenade trying to strangle it, trying not to release the lever and/or not **_accidentally_ ** kill himself. It had to be intentional or it didn’t count.

 

**_*plip!*_ **

 

That was the sound of the aforementioned safety pin flying off of his partial finger and getting lost in the huge pool.

“Ghit!... G-ghi-g _hi!-_ Nunn-no-nnono-”

 

Brainz continued to stutter dumbfoundedly while he clumsily searched for the pin until he froze up again and stared into the distance, somehow looking more defeated than when he already gave up. He put on a sordid pout for the absurdity of it all. He’d all but forgotten the reason why he just put up that display, but would be reminded again from behind.

 

“Uh, Are you okay sir?”

 

He was so tunnel visioned on the inconvenience that he didn’t even question the voice anymore, but instead questioned it, by scoffing: turning back to face it while cupping his grenade tightly, and snapping his angry confronting demand-

“ **_WHAT?!”_ ** What do you want with me?!”

 

He’d become angry again, because even thought his choice was still his and his alone, **_something_ ** just **_had_ ** to do something to taint it. That his ability to change his mind was assumed redundant. So here he stood, knee deep in garbage, in mortal danger of blowing up come his grip slip.

-This time though...  his disdain had a target, a face. One that caused _his_ face to configure, squinting and forming a questioning sneer. He was able to see exactly where the voice came from now, upon looking closer.

 

“I’m sorry… am I bothering you?”

Right from the flowerbed from where he’d resided, the brightest and yellowest of the bunch stood erect, two eyes and a mouth decorated its face surrounded by the petals. The simplicity of the features ressembled something that’d belong on the door of  a kindergartener's fridge, yet they were strangely able to convey the complicated emotion it sought to make: a solicitous and open arms smile.

 

Brainz twitched and closed his eyes, expecting it to go away when he opened them: but it was still there… so it had to be real… real _er_ than the _other_ talking flowers covered in his blood.

 

It had a high pitched and awfully chipper tone, very upbeat… like the plant was really trying to sell a friendly approach here. The voice was actually quite fitting for how it appeared… which was a first for any of the sentient creatures for Brainz. Despite not being fitting because there was no way a flower could…

Forget it.

 

“Uhm… hello? Are you alright? You don’t look so well.”

It had spoken again, putting that face into something concerned: dampening its tone. Brainz only glared into it, exasperated and without response. Posed with his self termination means in his grip. Shivering with his rasping breaths.

It spoke some more.

“ **_Hello?._ **.. Can you hear me?”

 

This time, Brainz actually answered it once he was sure it was real, he was still coming to terms with his bleak reality of disregarded logic. But in doing so, he forgot what the flower sought to start with him, so he answered with a question: emerging from his confusion.

“What… what did you say?”

 

The flower looked up at him more directly and repeated its original inquiries.

“I asked you… if you were alright, and if I was bothering you.”

 

Brainz was almost outraged at the flower… for the same reason he was still listening to it: that it was actually coherent… coherently throwing patronizing irony at him.Considering everything he had gone through:  asking him this one redundant question was an insult. Something making more sense only to ask such a stupid question, so he threw it right back at the little flower with an incredulous tone.

_“Are you bothering me?”_

 

The flower nodded at him, trying to look and sound as inoffensive as it could, worried to cause the man anymore distress.

“Yes… I… didn’t mean to scare you like that, I just didn’t know if you wanted to be left alone: do you want to be left alone?”

Its eyes curved into an apologetic arch, and its mouth into a weak frown…

 

Brainz didn’t take that into consideration though, he shook his head briefly and quickly-

“What do you want?”

He grunted with apathy, taking the penitent expression with a grain of salt, he’d had enough of everyone down here and wanted solely for the flower to get to the point so that Brainz could get to _his_ point and *leave*.

 

The flower seemed to be taken back by the coldness, and it jumped to a new tone, shocked at him, a tender sounding whine.

“Me?? _Nothing!_ Nothing… I just wanted to meet you, you… looked like you needed a friend is all.”

 

He still didn’t buy it, and reiterated the question with a sarcastic remark, loaded with assumption.

“A _“friend”_ , Hmm? Someone to… ohhh what.. “Watch my back” right?”

Brainz pretended like an thought hit him and feigned surprise.

“Oooh, and also… to erhh-” He smacked his dried blood tasting lips. “- Stab me in the back too. Is that what you want?-”

He buzzed his lips untrusting like and put a discard in his voice.

“Fuck off…”

 

The hurt feelings became obvious in the flower, almost melodramatic.

“What? You-you think I’d do something like that? Why?... I don’t understand.”

 

It was crocodile tears to him, and Brainz began to truly wake up again, with his acerbic attitude and mistrust.

“Oh _*please*_ you’re not convincing anyone, your act stinks more than this place. You think I’m fucking stupid?-”

He looked to himself for a quick remark.

“-well I guess I am for ending up here, but-”

Back to the flower with more contempt.

“- you think I’m just gonna blindly trust a talking a flower of all things… as if you’re different from _everything else_ down here that’s tried to kill **_“and slash or”_ ** mind flay me?”

 

Then he squinted at it some more and shook his head skeptically.

“- Not buyin it. Besides…. I’m still not sure if you’re quite so _real_ or not… I mean, I’m breathing in sewer fumes and I think I can see sound and hear colour... and I could swear some of your friends were talking to me annd… I’m-uhh not doin so great here.”

 

He made the ornate thing look at him, with such a gaze of bewilderment and sadness, and seeing this expression only pushed his skepticism further.

 

“-mhm, anyway… _yeahhh.._ no: the sympathy card isn’t gonna work, look buddy. Someone’s already beat you to it, they already popped the cork on me-”

He reminded himself of his explosive demise, and held the grenade up for the flower to see.

“Hey! Y’know what? You came all the way down here… you want me so bad? That’s fine… I’m fine with that, you can do whatever you want with me, like a vulture. I won't waste your time."

He made sure to really tighten his grip on the grenade before freeing one of his arms to gesture at the flower to leave.

“-If you _are_ real… why don’t you stay back and wait for the smoke to clear… you can have whatever’s left of me when I’m done, I’m sure you’re not picky being you have no problem living in a garbage dump-”

He gestured to the flower bed.

“- so you won't mind if it’s a little _messy,_ that’ll be the least of your concerns, eh?”

  


The flower stopped acting like it was hurt, and returned to the solicitous tone it greeted with.

“Are you going to kill yourself?”

 

Brainz quickly nodded.

“ _Yah,_ sound good?”

 

The flower snapped out of its pity grab and raised its voice for attention, shaking to and fro to really exaggerate the dissent it had for what Brainz was about to do.

“No… that _doesn’t_ sound good… that doesn’t sound good at all.”

 

Brainz scoffed and rolled his eyes, suppressing a little cough before speaking with more  assumption.

“I see… you came all this way, and you wanted to be the one to do it Or or-or, you want me intact… I see. Well, _you_ see… _I_ wanted to leave this place once upon a time, we don’t always get what we want now, do we? What I’m doing for you here… It’s called a _compromise.”_

 

It tried to argue with him like a peer running an intervention, but Brainz shot it down with more pessimism.

“Can you just _not?_ I’m _done…_ ok? I’ve had enough… it’s not worth it anymore… why bother if I know what’s gonna happen regardless-”

 

He sighed sadly, and ended bitterly.

“- I don’t wanna play anymore."

 

The flower wilted, bowing its face down: slumped… like Brainz had shut it off. But its petals moved around as if it was saying something… some unintelligible mutter.

**“Yₒᵤ ⱼᵤₛₜ wₐₙₜₑd ₜₒ ₛₑₑ ₘₑ ₛᵤffₑᵣ, dᵢdₙ'ₜ yₒᵤ?”**

 

Brainz barely made out what it said… but the sudden drop in tone when it did, took some of his wits for curiosity… he watched it shaking and twitching in its slump. Perhaps it was laughing or crying… it made him uncomfortable all of a sudden. Uncomfortable enough to change his mind and give it his attention. He asked it apprehensively… keeping some memory to his grenade in case anything would happen.

“What? What did you say?”

 

The flower stopped twitching and looked up slowly, like it hadn’t expected Brainz to ask. It stayed without emotion in its voice.

“You can’t trust me....”

 

Brainz stood up again and nodded in apathetic agreement.

“Oh, yeah. No. I really don’t trust you, I mean Im only-

 

 _He_ was interrupted for the first time by this thing, it sounded irritated, and it * _clicked!*_ further into its wilt, the unemotional tone degraded to sound more irritated and bitter.

“ **No...** I   _didn’t_ say you _don’t_ trust me… I said you **_Cₐₙ'ₜ_** trust me, can you?”

 

Brainz rotated his hands, palms up for his gesture.

“What’s the difference?”

 

The flower jerked its head up, it made Brainz step back in a swift retreat-

“Whoa.”

 

-The face had become more complicated and threatening… it stared at him with sunken eyes and pointed fangs.

“The Dᵢffₑᵣₑₙcₑ is that I don’t **_Bʟᴀᴍᴇ_ ** you… Because you already know what’s going on here, **_Dₒₙ'ₜ_ ** you?

 

The voice lost all emotion and sweetness to it… in a way, it sounded just like Brainz.. It was truly unsettling..The flower stared at him, wanting some response, gone was this innocent facade, Brainz felt obligated from intimidation to answer it, still sounding monotone.

“No actually… I really don’t.”

 

The plant glared at him with the same skepticism Brainz had given it, but literal.

“Oh you  **_dₒₙ'ₜ?_ **   You don’t know **ₐₙyₜₕᵢₙg** , really?”

 

The delivery… it’s accusative tone: the way this “innocent” looking flower mimicked Brainz with such accuracy… it reminded him of more than himself. A flower that repeated him so feverently. He tilted his head and cleared his throat, then lifted a finger away from the live grenade to point.

 

“Wait… are you one of those… eurh.. _Recorder_ flowers? Like the blue ones? I feel like you’re just like… copying me, like I’ve said something like that before.”

 

The flower grunted and dropped some of the monotony in its voice.

“Maybe you have, but I’m not an echo flower… I’m more than that… at least I _Usᴇᴅ_ to be.”

 

Brainz asked the first genuine question he’d made so far.

“What do you mean?”  
He was about to relax some, but the distant sound of something hitting the water, echoed down the falls: both of the two looked at the direction… but nothing showed up to claim it, the flower took no more attention to it and continued, assuming Brainz would do the same.

 

“Well… you look at me and you see nothing more than a little talking flower, and: you just showed me: you can’t trust me. You’re not going to believe someone who’s just like the others down here, you just said so… that I could’ve been nothing more than an echo flower.”

 

Brainz nodded, but was still preoccupied from the noise and hadn’t turned his head back.

“Uh-huh?”

 

The flower continued.

“Well… I wasn’t always like this… I used to be just like you a long time ago.”

 

That response was vague enough that Brainz took notice and gave more of his attention.

“ Wha-huh? What are y-How were you like me? You _barely_ know anything about me… do you?”

 

The flower locked their eyes onto his, but as much as they hit directly… they seemed _lost._ The flower sounded lost too.

“Noo, not like that… I mean it when I say it-”

It rephrased the statement with more emphasis.

“- I used to be _just, like…. You…_ what you are… not _who_ you are.”

 

Brainz was taken back by the sincerity of it… he stammered with how literal it was.

“Bu-but-... what else could you- you mean- you- you lu-lu-like-like-li like you mean… like a… **_person?_ ** Like an _actual_ person? Is that what you’re telling me?”

 

The flowey sadly nodded and went on… listlessly.

“I used to be **_alive…_ ** ”

 

His voice dropped below the threshold of rasping, he was almost whispering, he didn’t even realize how gentle he was speaking let alone how incredulous he still sounded, and he’d second guess if the flower could hear him and repeat.

“ **Alive??...** I-i-iii… I don’t get it. You-you’re sitting here, talking to me right now! How can you not be alive?”

 

The flower winced, it took the response harder than Brainz could expect, and it suddenly found that it couldn’t keep eye contact with him, throwing irritable haste.

“I’m _not!!_ It’s not the same!! I can’t- this is not alive- not dead… at least it wouldn’t hurt so much if I  _was_ dead.”

 

Brainz wanted to nod… but he couldn’t lie, and he didn’t _want_ to ask, but he felt like he _had_ to.

“I… still don’t get it… what _are_ you then?”

 

The flowey fidgeted more where it protruded from.

“I… I _can’t_ explain it,like- _nobody-_ just… Ok ok-”

It was suddenly able to look to Brainz again, who’d taken a few steps closer by this point. The flower made a digression in its tone.

“-Do you know, how you can… you can _feel,_ how you’re feeling… and how you feel about things… how _you…_ you- when things happen to you… that _feeling_ inside that makes you… “happy” or “sad”... you know how you can feel that?”

 

There wasn’t an ounce of insincerity in either of the two by this point, Brainz asked profoundly.

“You mean… like, emotions, sure.?”

 

He was almost right, according to the flower: they corrected him solemnly.

“The part of you that lets you feel them… your identity, your **soul.”**

 

That word again… it didn’t sit right, but he got what the plant meant.

“Okay? What about all that?”

 

Direct.

“Well… I don’t have one."

 

A second splash in the water, belonging to something inanimate gave him a flinch, well timed with the statement. When they realized it was just a rock,  Brainz went straight back to the topic with his disbelief.

“ _What?_ How- _How_ is that even _possible?..._ -”

 

The flower looked at him disappointed… which could’ve contradicted their point… but Brainz heard himself say “possible” and thought about how arguing that word with a talking flower… wouldn’t make much more sense.

 

“- Okay Okay okay… point taken, that word doesn’t mean anything here… but you know what I mean, _how.”_

 

The flower stretched in their stem and groaned, Brainz could see the adjacent petals moving so like breathing. It looked tired… and bitter, it was beginning to remind him of himself more and more. Gratuitously so when it gave up on him-

“Why, what good would it make? I’ll just be wasting your time, you said so yourself… I should just let you kill yourself in peace, I don’t want to waste my time anymore either… so go ahead. I won’t bother you anymore.”

 

Their head sank into their fellow flowers...

* * *

 

...leaving Brainz to his spiteful plan he’d complained so much about them impeding on. Of course, the moment he got what he wanted: he didn’t want it, he shook his hands, almost letting the grenade slip.

“Hey! Whoa-whoa!

Wait-wait-wait a second! Come back here! I _didn’t-_ ”

 

He cut himself off before it’d become a lie… he wouldn’t be able to talk his way in reverse, so the restrained words exploded inside of him and made a suppressed guttural groan.

“ _MmmmMM!!!.... Mmphh!! Uuurgggh!!!….”_

 

The flowers wouldn’t speak to him anymore, he was left alone again to sulk.

“ **_God!-”_ **

He didn’t finish his expletive with nearly the energy it started with.

“-dammit… I wasn’t… done yet, you… asshole.”  

 

Even though the flower was gone… Brainz wasn’t nearly done speaking, he just had different company now, he didn’t trust himself either, so it wasn’t too different here.

“Great… just great: No... _I’m_ the asshole now-” He then immediately mocked himself, exaggerating what he was feeling to beat on himself.

 

“- The _“_ Big Bad Human” Ohh, _watch out_ : everything he does is _soo terrible!_ Don’t give him any slack or anything like that, _ooh FUCK no!_ He’s just a huge douchebag!”

 

Brainz sat down on the wood platforms, letting his legs dangle in the water: obviously not concerned with it. He _really_ wasn’t good with multitasking, because he was putting his legs back into filth water while his open cut bled some more and his life lay precariously in his grip on that bomb. The only thing he was concerned about now was that he chased away a talking flower. He held that bomb out and sighed, perhaps cooling off back to a depressed suicide.

“-Huuu _uuuUUggh!..._ Why do _I_ have to deal with this shit all the time? Can you just _not_ pick a worse time to do this to me? It just never fucking stops… it’s never going to stop. I’m never getting out of this.”

 

He frowned, and his eyes felt sore all around.

“Why am I so _broken?_ Here I am...  sitting at the lowest I’ve ever been, I finally figured that it was just gonna get worse and worse and had a plan for once...so naturally it got worse but I’m still completely blindsided! Like what the fuck, Am I seriously incapable of doing ANYTHING right!?”

 

The weapon shook in his hands… it felt almost too heavy to hold all of a sudden.

“Just _look!_ I’m _holding_ the way out! Out of this  _funhouse_ full of freaks!  It's right in my hands! It’s _right_ here, and all I have to do it just drop it!”

 

He threw his clasped hands to and fro from his chest, as if he wanted to strangle the explosive. Or just couldn’t muster the will to do it. He groaned angrily and gave up.

“I mean _come ooon!_ I’m holding an unfired explosive that can level a _BUILDING_ for christ’s sake! And I can’t kill myself with it!”

 

Brainz made one last effort to let it go and sounded off the failure with an infuriated growl.

“ _GHuh!! Haa… Huhhh… hunhhg.._

I can’t… I can’t… I _can’t…_ even _not_ use it… because I lost the fucking safety pin in the sea of shit. So… I’m just gonna end up throwing it… hoping I don’t cause an avalanche and then… I won’t have a grenade anymore… so I’ll just be _even more fucked_ than I already am”

 

He soured his expression, but eased it by making a digression for the other device on his belt, he looked down at the stun grenade and cocked his head slightly.

“Pretty sure If I blew _this one_ up next to my ear, it’d kill me… it’s still an explosive…”

 

Then back to a sour face.

“Daww, the’ell am I kidding? I’ve still _this_ fucking thing (The almost useless pistol) if I really wanted to kill myself… I’d…”

 

He couldn’t help but listen to himself, it made him feel more morose and he contemplated.

 

“But do I really _not_ want to kill myself anymore?... I… don’t even know… it just doesn’t seem fair to even try now, I lost most of my stuff, not to mention my _time,_ and I’m even more lost now… and I yelled at that weird flower…  but to be honest: I’m sure I wouldn’t have actually pulled that pin if they didn’t show up… not sure enough.”

 

Brainz nodded firmly to himself and looked down at his bloody hands and the grenade spring, struggling so hard to come out. He smirked ironically and with bitter feeling.

“You really did it _this_ time, “Mister. _Suspect_ Omega” The “Oh so most cunning criminal of the east coast.” Can’t quit while he’s ahead… or behind… so what am I gonna do now?...

…I got no idea.”

 

He wanted to sit there for a while, not from lack of energy but from the absence of any motivation to get up. He gently stirred his feet and fiddled with his weapon, a hum came out of him. He didn’t notice it at first because it felt so habitual, a gentle tune he’d once heard a long time ago, catchy if not soothing.

* * *

 

“Howdy…”

[Friends?](https://youtu.be/ChyYDT_Altg?t=20s)

The flower had returned… this time greeting with a withdrawn approach.

 

Brainz didn’t jump this time he just stopped humming to himself. He’d been facing the flower berg from where he sat so he only needed to look up, which he took his time to do: calmly. When he saw the simple looking face again, Brainz tilted his head slightly up. A bashful acknowledgment.

“Hey… you’re back.”

 

The flower withdrew their reticent attitude, and nodded back.

“You’re… still here.”

 

Brainz answered the nod with his own, still calmly.

“Yehp… I am.”

 

The melancholy silence shared between both of them gave for the awkward feeling that they both wanted each other to speak… without having to speak themselves. Brainz for once; however, was the one to end the silent period of empty stares and deviated gazes. He sighed and opened his mouth.

“I’m sorry.”

 

The petals around the flower’s face seemed to become more erect, it widened its eyes.

“What?”

 

Brainz moved his hands around some and gestured with his head to elaborate what he was doing, he cleared his throat: spitting into the water.

“I’m sorry… for treating you like that. Y’know… telling you to-” Brainz made a somber motion with his hands while they made quotes. “ ‘fuck off’ that wasn’t right.”

 

The leaves on the flower seamed to rustle with a shudder, and with the face it was holding: it was easy to see that it wasn’t expecting to hear this.

“Oh.”

 

Brainz shrugged and smirked sadly.

“Yeah… I don’t want you to think you did anything wrong, bud. You really didn’t… only one that hasn’t so far.”

 

The flower made a similar “Oh” sound.  Brainz took it as a sign to continue.

“Yeaaah… I just wanted to tell you that… so thanks for coming back to hear me out then… why did you anyway? If I can ask.”

He was genuinely real with the question, and sought to ask it without notion to offend.

 

There was another “oh” sound, but the flower changed to a different timid expression, seemingly humbled from Brainz.

“Thank you, that uh… Umm… well… will you get mad if I tell you that I didn’t really leave?”

 

It was Brainz’s turn to say “Oh?” And he did it with a passive interrogative subtone, askew head and all.

 

The flower hadn’t admitted it directly, but the behavior of all the entire patch they were connected to mimicked their body language. The way all the petals wobbled shallowly… it looked like they were intimidated… like they were looking up to Brainz ambiguously.

“Well… I uhm… I…”

They took a deep “breath” and pushed on, obviously nervous about it.

“I… let you not see me… so you could be alone and stop being bothered by me. But… I, I… I was just hiding, so I could still hear you… I’m sorry sir. I just wanted to be sure when it would be over and you’d be… I… I didn’t want to, interrupt you again if I came back… and I was-”

 

They tripped and stumbled on their words, and the ones they did pronounce seemed to wobble unsteadily with them, their petals highlighted this… it was unlike anything Brainz had ever seen before… he watched it silently, almost amazed, yet feeling increasingly desolated. He began to slightly shake his head with little energy.

 

“- I just felt bad that I-i Uhm, did that.. And-and, then I heard you talking… I didn’t _mean_ to butt in but I just really felt you being similar to me… and then I heard you humming and I got unsure what you were doing and-”

 

Brainz had shaken his head with enough force at this point that the flower could take notice and stopped, only exacerbating the unsureness they had for themselves… they began blurting a messy apology claiming all kinds of disrespect. The inculpable ignorance on their face the way it looked, Brainz had to cut them off.

“Dude… **_relax.”_ **

 

The flower jutted to a stop with strained eyes and a dot for a mouth, it obliged almost in a state of shock… it prompted Brainz to ask again his request. He raised his arms up, despite the cut and weapon in hand still… and lowered them in increments to show his intention. He let himself speak softly, going easy on his throat and sounding less harsh.

“Just, take, it, _easy._ Okay? Can you do that for me?-”

 

The flower blinked a couple of times, and haltingly began to un “terrify” their face. Brainz saw the creeping success and lightened himself with it.

“-there you go bud… just like that. Just… _relax._ We can talk… not _yell_ or panic on each other, Okay? Look, I’m _not_ going to blow myself up or anything anytime soon. Long as we stay calm…  You don’t have to say anything… just give me nod or a shake whenever you can… can you do that?”

 

They looked at him for a moment, he directed the attention to his weapon, holding it outwards.

“I can’t put this down, but it won’t hurt anything if I hold it like this. So we’re fine, okay? Look… I got it held tightly, it’s not gonna go anywhere.”

 

They immediately nodded following that addendum, and kept at it until they were calm. When they found the resolve to ease their face, he eased his face… he wasn’t adopting a calmness that just didn’t exist, by all means he was quite tense… so he played it “bogart” instead… for the flower’s sake and not his.

“Alright now… let's leave out feeling bad for each other, as it stands I’m feeling pretty dang slimey for myself dealing you like that, seeing you now.”

 

He shrugged and tried to get a smirk or something with his own gesture, but continued even without it.

“Okay… so you heard that…” He scrunched his face and scowled the word with quotes “ ***display*** just now, then?”

 

The flower nodded plainly, Brainz huffed and nodded incredulously at himself… he’d incriminate himself now, pausing and warily asking what he did.

 

“You heard me _eeee…_ call you an *asshole*, **_but-but-then_ ** call myself an asshole?”

 

Another vacant nod from the flower and he inhaled sharply and continued.

“And then that _rousing_ conversation with myself I had? That erruh… display of self loathing?”

 

Again… the simple nod told him everything he wanted to know, while troubling him at the same time… Brainz threw the next question out of obligation, not curiosity.

“Do youuu… do you think I’m insane? Like-like sitting here holding a suicide bomb and muttering to myself.”

 

They took a bit longer to answer this time, but Brainz didn’t expect a head shake with eyes dead on him. He felt it was a lie, but one out of modesty not deception… unlike how he felt ten minutes ago.

“You wont hurt my feelings if you say yes, y’know.”

 

They did the same headshake, which irritated him some.

“I’m serious, you _don’t_ need to lie to me, I wont get mad…”

He looked away to make a remark under his breath.

“ _I’m already mad.”_

 

The flower spoke finally, mimicking the partial irritation Brainz had given it, shaped into an interrogative lash out.

“Do you trust me or **_ɴᴏᴛ?_ ** That’s why I came back. **_”_ **

 

He was, _again:_ taken off guard by the shift in tones… especially coming from something claiming not to have emotions. He looked away from himself and spoke,  lacking the ability to discern the question,

“What?”

 

The flower wasn’t willing to repeat their question and gave Brainz the follow up regardless if they felt he understood or not, putting on that bitter expression.

“You asked me if I thought you were insane, and I answered you, **_no._ ** _”_

 

Brainz felt their gaze biting into him, he rolled his eyes and felt the need to explain _himself_ just for the sake of putting himself down.

“Yeah, but-”

 

The flower interrupted him, gone was this sense of intimidation and overzealous boundaries… it was eerie to say the least, this shift in personality. It reminded him of himself… regardless: he sat in his place and listened.

“Why do you want me to say “yes” so badly? If you wanted me to say you’re insane, then you should’ve asked me to call you insane. But you didn’t… you asked me what I thought, and when I told you… you called me a liar… which you called me when I came to you in the first place-”

They sighed, annoyed: and finished with a more stern question.

“So do you **ᴛʀᴜsᴛ** me or **ɴᴏᴛ**?”

 

Brainz’s self loathing was ultimately defeated, it was responsible for everything he would reply with in this developing argument, all pointed slander aimed at himself. But seeing someone, not only refute it, but to challenge its existence was something unexpected. People didn’t typically defend him, especially not from himself. He almost _thrived_ from making a pathetic display out of his demolished self worth.

 

“ **_Well?_ ** _”_

The flower showed their diminished patience with a petulant probe to get their answer out of Brainz. In moments that followed the demand seemed to detract from the world around, the sound of rushing washer and clattering garbage quieted down while the odor was ignored.

 

Brainz had the entire world to him and himself, and he didn’t like this. It was too quiet, it gave him too much: too much to trust himself with. Fearing what would happen if he _thought_ about it some more, Brainz panicked and threw himself out of the void with a blurt.

“ _Yes!”_

It was the most unsure thing he’d done today, mainly because he just didn’t _know._ There was too much going on in his head-

 _While it still tried to disprove the existence of taxpaying leprechauns,_ stupid head wound.

 

-Considering his relationships with everything down here, giving _anyone_ the benefit of the doubt was straight suicide. Considering his emptier inventory, he wasn’t equipped to give anyone the benefit of the doubt. Considering his degrading health, he wouldn’t survive giving anyone the benefit of the doubt. _Considering_ it _ALL…_ why was he even _considering_.

Brainz had all but known that, one way or the other: he was going to follow through with this flower, whether he trusted them or not. He was stupid like that, that _special_ kind of stupid.

 

The flower recoiled slowly from the answer, then treated Brainz to his own skepticism

“Oh really? Well-”

They were able to shadow how Brainz delivered the line perfectly, good to spite him with.

“- _I’m serious, you don’t need to lie to me.”_

They turned the conversation around, and weren’t willing to let Brainz interject anywhere, not until they finished returning his poor hospitality.

“You don’t think I’m here just to _kill and/or mind flay_ you?”

 

The stare they gave him, it turned his blood into jagged glass. Desperate to make it stop, he blurted out again, but with more honesty.

“Yes! No!.. I don’t- I don’t _know,_ okay?! Well how am I supposed to know to trust you then?! Hmm? You just popped up for me! How am I supposed to know your intention? You don’t even know what I’ve been through so far. It's horrible.”

 

It was his try at reclaiming the pull of the conversation, conforming his face into an accusative gaze and pointing sternly at the little plant.

The flower threw a hasty comeback, tinted with a smug feel: sought to prove the man wrong.

“I do, _actually._ ”

 

This was beginning to fall into Brainz’s familiarity, being his ability to argue: his lips curled into a sarcastic grin and his voice followed.

“Uh-huh, sure.”

“ **I Doo** **_ooo!”_ **

The flower disputed in that puerile manner, whining as they held their comeback, Brainz was able to pick up on this… but still held his ground and crossed his arms to match the gesture.

“Prove it… tell me then, why am I here sitting in a dump, arguing with you about trust. _Why_ am I so reluctant to trust you then?”

 

It _snarled_ at him… all of the petals flapped erratically at him, as if they were hissing. Brainz receded a small amount with the obligatory disturbed grunt and raised eyes. “Eugh..” Before he could question if he’d regret pissing it off or not, it gained height and flared the jagged thorns on its elongated stem. Hunched over and glaring at Brainz, the eyes sunk again and the voice… _rasped_ just like his.

“You want me to prove it? **_Fɪɴᴇ,_ ** **ᵢ wᵢₗₗ ₚᵣₒᵥₑ ᵢₜ fₒᵣ yₒᵤ.”**

They could see how Brainz pushed himself to the edge of his plank, away from them: and how his hands twitched over his weapon nervously. The look on his face was just a bit fearful. The flower stayed at its hunch, but decided to ease its voice for something more collected, after all: they were trying to prove their trustworthiness. A little anger shouldn’t get in the way of that.

“I know you more than you think… you think I see you as just a victim, or someone for me to “ₚₗₐy” with. But let me tell you what I know.”

 

[I know you more than you think.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATzlzPLMUhc)

 

They stared into him dead on, he had no reaction but to moisten his lips and blink a couple of times, for what was about to come: Brainz would try numerous times to interrupt but the flower wouldn’t allow this.

 

“Your name is Brainz, but _not_ with an “S” you tell everyone you meet to say it like it sounds, with that “Zuhh-”

 

He tried the first time.

 

“- _BUT._ Your real name is “Suspect Theta Omega” or at least that’s what everyone on the surface calls you-”

A second attempt was made, something out of abject curiosity: but it still was paved over.

 

“- you’re really grown up even though that sweater makes you feel like a little kid. But you’re forty-six years old, and you don’t like it when anyone thinks you’re a kid-”

 

The only thing he tried was to mouth his dismay “But how?” while shaking his head in disbelief slightly, prodding at his childish garment.The flower continued.

 

“- you weren’t supposed to come here and you told everyone that you didn’t want trouble-”

They twitched angrily and growled.

“- **_Bᵤₜ ₙₒbₒdy ₗᵢₛₜₑₙₑd_ ** ”

They seemed to return to normal, but slightly edged up.

“Nobody wanted to listen to you, no matter how much you tried to warn them, they left you with nothing else to do except to defend yourself… and when you did, they all pointed and yelled at you, like you started it.”

 

Brainz stopped trying to interrupt, by all means he wanted it to stop because it was true and it _hurt._ He’d been given a crash course of his life as it stood, abridged and cut up for convenience sakes, yet it still held all of the desolation for what it summarized.

 

The flower retracted back to its normal posture and began to slump again, sighing before speaking.

“They won’t help you, they won’t leave you alone, they won’t even talk to you without trying to hurt you. All they do is look at you and attack you for what you are-”

 

It began to tremble, its voice unsteady… and as it did: all of the flowers began to wilt and lose colour.

“- you’ve been through so much… _too_ much.  Eventually you’ll just try and try until you tire of trying, then what’re you supposed to do? Give up on the world?-”

They looked up to Brainz, as if something had just occurred to them.

“- And here you are now… with your thing-” (The grenade) “-in your muddy paws right there. Feeling too tired to get up again-.”

 

He looked down at it too, it felt repulsive to hold, a different kind of shiver ran through him, shaking him to the core.

“- But you just can’t quit… I saw, no matter how close you came… how much you wanted it, you just _couldn’t_ get out, it was the _same_ thing all over again. You’re stuck here and nothing you do feels like it matters, and you can’t even quit. It’s not fair.”

 

Every notion Brainz had had about this flower were dismantled, their outlook had shaken him severely, nothing about them could’ve stuck after a speech like that. He was absolutely addled, speaking with that partial vacancy in his voice.

“Yeah that’s…. _Literally_ it, like… you didn’t- there’s nothing- you got it down to a point… that’s-”

Anxious curiosity filled his vacancy, he stood up again and pointed.

“- The bloody hell do you know that? You been following me since the beginning or some shit?”

 

They looked away from him again, almost repentant to say so.

“I… have, yes. I’ve watched your progress since you showed the same distrust to me, to _her._ ”

 

Brainz shuddered again for all of three reasons, but he only addressed one of them, feeling scornful.

“If you’ve been watching me for _that_ long, why’d you wait until _now_ of all times to show yourself?-”

He jumped up in intensity to push a point.

“- if you _have_ been watching me, then where were you when I was getting my ass handed to me one beatdown to the next? Enjoying the show?”

 

The flower took the aggression and threw it off of their bases, showing the same impertinence they were given, and flaring up with more pestilence and forgetting their topic.

“Hey! You look just _fine_ to me, you still have your arms and legs: _, I’m_ just a lousy flower! What was I _supposed_ to do? I couldn’t come when there were monsters around, and you just _had_ to run into every single one!”

 

Brainz felt all of his limbs remind him of their soreness and sniffed a runny bloody nose, he scrunched his face and barked back, bringing the throaty groan back into play and exercising sarcasm.

“Well **_excuuse_ ** me! It’s not like I have a fucking map or anything!”

He stood up and began tossing his good arm around, raising his voice more to further build this into a squabble.

“Also… _“fine”?_ You call _THIS_ fine? I’m standing in some monster infested garbage dump!-”

The unbearable urge to cough took him again, when he was finished with a particularly aggressive hack, Brainz held his aching gut and groaned some.

“- I’m sitting here, fucking _bleeding!-”_

He motioned to the lacerated arm.

“-Not to mention _everything else_ hurting. Mister “I don’t feel anything” you don’t even know what it’s like feel pain for _everything!-_

His rant was interrupted once more by an overpowering urge to cough raggedly, he would’ve resumed after he was done doubling over again, but a noise twice as loud as his resonating hacks made him jump.

 

“ **YES.  ..** **_I.._ ** **DO-!!** ”

He turned to the flower, his sleeve still masking the debris from his throat. A genuinely angry face was painted onto it. Before he could question it, the rant he instilled came into full fruition.

" **_WHY?!_ ** Why, does **_nobody_ ** ever believe me?!!? Why don’t **_YOU?!_ ** You’re supposed to **_BELIEVE ME!!”_ **

 

They lashed erratically with fury, but just as Brainz would withdraw more, it seemed the rage intended for him wasn’t being directed at him. Just out and into the open as they looked everywhere except at him.

“I thought you’d _know!!_ I thought **_you_** of all people would be the one who _understands!_ Nobody else would but, **_you’re_** supposed to be **_different!_** You’re supposed to be, **_JUST. LIKE. ME!!_**.”

 

 _Now,_ they found their target and flared the face which was as furious as it was blatantly indignant. Their stem began to climb again, thorn riddled vines crept out of the flowers as they gained height over Brainz.

“But you’re **_not!_ ** You’re just…-”

 

They continued to rise and the anger welled.

“- **_you’re just… so…. SO-”_ **

 

They’d twice as much height as Brainz and he tensed, preparing for the blow up.

“- **_SO…. *SOOO*-”_ **

He felt a rush of anxious anticipation and…

 

“- **_MEAN!!”_ **

 

* * *

 

It was anticlimactic… with that distressed shout, they completely deflated. Sinking back to their stature and losing their volume and emotion.  It devised a brief existence of silence, being Brainz was stalled by the unexpectedness of it. For such an inoffensive term meant for him, it hit him more than anything more devious would. The way it cried out, a display of a juvenile expenditure of patience and temper.

“why….”

A rhetorical question with ambiguous meanings, diabolically unsure. Brainz just watched in silence, waiting for them to continue. They did, but to Brainz: it was nothing but unintelligible muttering. It seemed he’d taken the fight right out of them as they leaned around sluggishly, hiding their face with drooping petals.

They wouldn’t continue the argument, even though it made him uncomfortable seeing them angry: Brainz began to deeply desire that they would say something. He wanted them to interrupt his building realization for what he may have done.

 

Insufferably long minutes passed having stare at this thing, when a yawn forced itself out of Brainz’s mouth (he was far from _well_ rested) he couldn’t stand the silence any further and went to quiet the chaos in his thoughts by speaking. He put aside the aggravation he had on a whim and uncovered some solicitous nature, basking in caution.

“Dude… are you okay?”

 

The flower stopped the dull mutters and slowly looked up, the flacid yellow petals hid the face for as long as they could, but when Brainz saw the face: he’d gotten his answer and his unwanted confirmation.

The simple features bent and sagged to look as hurt as possible, broken even, and they did this in the company of something new. Black looking smudges that ran down its face, the things that occurred to him as _tears._

It was _crying._

Brainz had made it cry.

 

“Ohh….”

He lightly gave off his understanding, timidly saying it.

Another lapse of dead silence struck the two of them, this one being far shorter and _far_ more unbearable as that “tear” stricken face looked into him.

 

“Dude… I wasn’t trying to-”

He started with _some_ form of excuse, but he just couldn’t muster what to say next, every second just taking in that face haunted him. It instilled him with a diabolical sensation of uneasiness, with some of the most far fetched outcomes causing his stomach to turn again. He _had_ to know, he couldn’t live with this anymore.

“- Why are you crying? I thought you said you couldn’t feel.”

The second part of that question was an accident, it just came out. Brainz cringed hearing it leave his lips, this was perhaps the _worst_ thing to say at this point and he’d gone ahead and did it.

 

However, instead of earning worsened despair for his fumble, the flower began speaking again, a new tone comprised of two being mashed together. A dead tone that couldn’t be apathetic, because it was weighed with depression and bitterness. The flower just compressed its eyes some, to show the hostility Brainz gave it.

“You pick up habits… you watch everyone, with them being able to _feel._ So much that you try to be like them. You do it for _so_ long, you get good at faking it. So you try to pretend that there’s nothing wrong with you-”

 

For a moment, they lightened up for a quick quip.

“- heh-heh-he… sometimes I can even believe it.”

 

Brainz almost followed, but then they were back to sounding dead depressed.

 

“But, am I not supposed to cry? I thought it was what normal people do when you break their hopes.”

 

They waited for a response, Brainz felt the warm moisture running down his head despite how cold he was. But he had to push, despite the fear of worsening this. If he was going to let a wrong doing torment him, he’d at least want to know what he did wrong.

“But why were they about _me?_ Why do I have to be involved?-”

He tried to sound more sure of himself with a complaint.

“- dude, I _just_ want to go **_home.”_ **

He said this while pointing to himself, a rare gesture as he seldom desired to show any consideration for himself.

 

The flower held onto their hurt expression.

“Me too.”

 

Something caused his thoughts to slam to a halt, an contradiction to the established road they traveled upon. He testified it.

“Wait, I thought this floating flower thing _was_ your home.”

 

He managed to make the flower look less hurt and more annoyed, they squinted at him.

“Noo _oo…_ this is _not_ “my home” that would be like If I asked you if you lived in a house made out of other humans. Also, who would want to live in a garbage dump?”

 

Brainz exhaled sharply at the impudence, but then he opened his mouth again.

“So… would that mean you’re sitting on top of your dead family members? Or are they just sleeping or something?”

 

The flower went into a state of abject shock, they sputtered furiously.

“What-the... you-ju-no- I just-toldyou… **_NO!!_ ** I _just_ told you I was-”

They finished the incomplete statement with frustrated noises and growls.

“ _Euurgh!_ Why are you so _stupid?!”_

They stopped and shuddered, flipping their tone.

“Wait! I take that back! I take it back!”

 

Brainz just looked at them, more confused than allegedly offended. The flower calmed more, seeing this.

“I take it back… just… it’s just, this is really hard to talk about. I really need you to understand. _Please_.”

 

Brainz took in what he needed to from this, he nodded gently.

“Okay, I’m sorry. No more games, I’ll be real with you.”

 

This promise wouldn’t influence the questions he’d ask, but he would look at this whole conversation with a different demeanor from now on… just be be sure. Brainz crossed his legs slowly and awkwardly, feeling the uncomfortable damp fabric scraping around. When he got as comfortable as he could, he propped his head up and spoke.

“So where _is_ your home then?”

 

The flower ironically snickered and then droned while shaking their head.

“Not _here_ I tell you… not here at all.”

 

Brainz interpreted what he needed from the vague mutter and nodded, the next question would be more personal, something he’d wanted to know for a while now… to be _sure_ of.

“Why haven’t you left here then? Can’t you get out of here?”

 

He felt himself shivering again, part of him was afraid to hear the same words bolting around in his paranoid thoughts. His heart began to kick harder as he waited for the answer. When they did speak, it was after a sigh… which made the bleak feeling more prominent.

“No… I can’t.”

 

A terrible sensation took hold of Brainz, he lost some of his cool and stood up a bit. The horrid assumption that flared inside of him escaped from his lips.

“Oh god, are you telling me there’s going to be no way out?? Like at _all?_ That I’ve been wasting my time and pissing away my life for **nothing?”**

 

The flower was pushed into another tantrum, showing their weak temperament to Brainz’s intrusive nature.

“No no _no no_ **_no no No!_ ** Can you **_please_ ** stop doing that? **_Please?!_ ** It’s _really_ getting annoying! Like how would you like it if I kept interrupting you and getting mad before you even explain something? That’s not fair! For all you know, I could tell you the exit is right down the way!”

 

Humbled yet also intrigued, Brainz calmed down and at least _tried_ to uphold his word to behave.

“OK, Okay. Go ahead then.”

 

The flowey wasn’t satisfied with that, they pried into it more: making the irritation mutual with juvenile sarcasm.

“Are you _suure?_ Are you really going to listen to me? Are you going to stop acting like a huge jerk?”

 

He barely minded the flak being thrown at him and rephrased himself, the sound of withheld temper seeping through his gritted teeth.

“ _Yes,_ I’m not going to-”

 

The flower interrupted him, exaggerating his voice like a parody: easily vexing him as he stopped talking abruptly.

“ _Rea-aaa-lly_ now? Because you’re _reaaal-”_

 

Brainz contradicted himself and burst out with an ironic interruption.

“ **_OKAY ALREADY!! I GET IT!”_ **

He immediately regretted doing that, his throat punished him for yelling in his state and he experienced some more respiratory misery. The flower seemed satisfied now as Brainz coughed out his comeuppance for being so rude. They waited until he returned to his normal wheezing state, a couple of loogies being hawked into the water for good measure.

 

“Good, so as I was saying: _I_ haven’t been able to get out. For as long as I’ve been just **sᴛᴜᴄᴋ** here… I’ve tried and tried… but I’ve never been able to-”

 

Brainz watched diligently, an unsmiling face fixated on the flower.

 

“-but that doesn’t mean there’s not a way out. I wouldn’t have tried all these years if I knew there wasn’t… I _almost_ thought that… and I almost gave up, until…”

 

The flower seemed to hesitate on the exception, the thing Brainz would _really_ want to hear, despite his unspoken word to not interrupt them, he interjected: desperate to get on with the truth.

“Until?”

 

It seemed to snap the flower out of it and they took no offense to the insert, they finished their sentence.

“Until **_you_ ** showed up.”

 

Again, Brainz interrupted but it was far less mindful as he did it out of surprise.

“ _Me??_ Why?”

 

The flower seemed to take no notice to him and continued on their… near praising of him.

“God… after the last one, I had almost given up hope… but you, you’re something else. You’re the one.”

 

He couldn’t help but cut in, he didn’t want this plant to continue to build off of something he couldn’t comprehend. He interposed with intentional interruption.

“Wait wait wait! What are you _talking_ about? Like really?? What do you mean _others?_ What others?-”

He reiterated his desire, just louder and more genuine this time.

“- and for the love of god. _WHY_ am I so goddamned special? I mean _absolutely_ nothing to this place, right?! You never told me why not! Nobody _did!_ For all they know, they have the _wrong_ person! I just… I can’t keep up with this shit… _I didn’t even get to start!_ Like _CMON!”_

 

The flower refused to talk again after Brainz finished. He of course: recognized this and sought to justify it after he sighed relieving the stress some.

“ Ugh… I’m sorry for interrupting again, but you gotta at least tell me _that._ I am just _so_ lost right now and the concussion isn’t helping. But please just… _what_ is the deal with me?”

 

The flower sighed and rolled their “eyes” begrudgingly agreeing.

“I was _getting_ to there-”

 

Without interrupting too much.

“Sorry.”

  
They resumed.

“- it’s fine. But to begin, you know you’re not the first human to fall down here, right?”

 

Brainz looked around at the filthy environment for thought, making some “uhms”.

“Ohhhn… Iiii… uhhh. I’m not?”

 

He got a petal covered head shake, but a sincere answer with it.

“Not by a very long time, you’re like the seventh or eighth to come through.”

 

It sparked something and Brainz snapped his fingers, just barely clear of interrupting again.

“That’s _right!_ She-” (Toriel) “-told me about like 8 or something…  that she lost eight children to…-”

 

A bout of contempt crossed his face and his energy deflated into a groan.

“-Asgore.”

He snapped out of it quickly to get back to the topic at hand.

“So if there were eight… wouldn’t that make me, number nine? And then, which one were you? You said _you_ used to be one too, right? Did you meet her too?”

 

They didn’t follow him for a moment, something took their attention in their mind.

“Wha- huh? What- Oh… yeah, she was my mom too, yeah.”

 

He stifled a chuckle, a rare attempt for humor.

“Pfff… _heh-heh_ yeah… she’s _everyone’s_ mother, huh? Even 40 year old creeps like me… that’s not weird at all. Hey… how old were you anyway?”

 

The flower seemed to wince at him, they closed their eyes and shook their head after a moment of straining.

“I… I-i, can’t remember… pretty young I guess.”

 

Brainz was slightly disappointed, but something else was prevalent in his tone now.

“Oh… Do you know how you bit it at least?”

 

The flower just squinted again.

“What?”

 

Brainz had vagued the question to sound as inoffensive as he could, he had to brace for it and just be honest now.

“Do you know how you _died._ Unless that’s a little too personal?”

 

The flower sighed deeply, Brainz took it as a bad sign and went to toe the line.

“Right, OK. Too much, I won’t ask you anything about that-”

 

He was interrupted again, more bitterness.

“No no, it’s _fine._ You should get to know, because you’re still alive…”

They drooped again, but without the appearance of wilting, it just looked like something heavy was on their mind.

“But all I can remember is, you know how the monsters here have been treating you?”

By the abject look in Brainz’s face, the flower knew it was a resounding “yes”

“Humans and monsters don’t like each other and that’s… that’s what happened to the other humans before you… _it’s what happened to us.”_

 

He couldn’t help it.

“*Us*?”

 

They began to shake repeatedly, sorrowfully, Brainz didn’t care to see them like this, even if it gave him a picture of what they meant. The flower went into a tangent, not really directed at Brainz, but plagued by an unsteady voice.

“ _I remember them , They were the first one. The one who fell… me and them were friends... They killed them… they killed *US*-”_

 

They whipped up again, the facial expression was so radically different that it looked like it belonged to someone else. It was an innocent look, or at least it so desperately wanted to be. The flower had such a _miserable_ expression… it was like looking into a mirror. Brainz could almost feel it stinging at him… it throbbed in his insides when it shakily spoke… more of those “tears” trying for its eyes.

**“-They were my best friend in the whole world.”**

In that moment, everything snapped into place, it had left so much to the imagination… but this allegation was like a schematic, once Brainz could finally see it: With all he had known, being frozen with abject horror shouldn’t be possible… but here he was, standing with his jaw agape.

“Oh my god…”

He whispered vacantly with the realization… it was far worse than he ever could imagine and he wanted to confirm it with a frightened declaration to himself.

“Young… the childish bedroom… you were _kids…_ she was talking about kids….”

Then he turned to the flower in horror, and he almost yelled interrogatively.

**“You were a kid, weren’t you??”**

 

The flower heard him even in their preoccupation of misery… never a slow and painful nod was made, Brainz knew it all too well… this was all the same, except _he_ was on the other side of the nod. When someone describes the smoldering pathetic state of your life flat out in front of you, all you can help to do is nod.

 

[THEY DIDN'T](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfngxU0y3nM)

 

A shiver ran down to his very being, ending with a gasp. Brainz covered his mouth with a bloodied hand, an impulse to witnessing something truly terrible.

**“Oh my god…”**

He uncovered his mouth and fell to his knees, defeated… any good feeling siphoned out of him.

 

“I’m…. _so,_ freaking sorry…”

He could barely speak coherently, let alone in riddles of understatements for how he felt about this. Never had he felt so angered and distraught over such clarity. He struggled to release his words and nothing else for how violently sick he felt all of a sudden. He quivered with fury.

“... **_*so* *so* … *Fff-freaking *SORRY*_ ** **Oh my god...** **_”_ **

 

The flower sniffled and tried to lighten, marginally lifted that they had finally gotten through to this man. That he was finally seeing them.

“It’s OK, you didn’t know.”

 

Brainz forced his eyes shut for a moment and rebutted strongly.

“ **No…** **_NO..._ ** **-”**

It wasn’t enough, he wasn’t just apologizing for his own self diagnosed cruelness, he sought on the behalf of the entire world. For what he felt could never be acceptable on any moral scale, no matter the circumstance. When he had to share his faith with a child… it wasn’t deserved anymore, he felt he deserved to suffer this _alone._

“ _NOT JUST_ for me acting like… a **_bastard_** Oh no… I could never ask your forgiveness for that, for being so **_stupid._**  I’d never be so _damned_ to do so- _ohhh noo…”_

 

He quivered his hyperventilations, how he appeared to the “child” wasn’t minded: he tunnel visioned with anger as he continued to speak, withholding the urge to scream with a low growl. Some of his more profane words couldn’t be contained.

“- that these… **_PIECE OF SHIT!_**  Living sins against god could _LIVE._ That they do this to **_FffrcKING KIDS!!!_** That we haven’t burned them to ash like we _SHOULD,_ I’m _very_ sorry, so **_very_** sorry, that they’re _ALLOWED_ to **do this!”**

 

He balled his one free hand and clenched it hard along with his teeth, he held his prolonged wince, he began to _feel_ the type of misery forcing its way through his scorched veins. He could almost feel the flower’s pain… but it wasn’t empathy… it was _guilt._ Taking advantage of him like always… coming when he was hurting, and he fought it once more… yelling out loud for no one to receive, but _everyone_ to hear. His composure fell through.

 

“ _I_ may be horrible! I may be the _absolute WORST p_ erson in my world! But I do **_NOT. MURDER. FUCKING. CHILDREN. WHY WOULD I?!?!? Why would ANYBODY!!!?_ **

You **_CAN’T_ ** have a reason! You’re not **_ALLOWED_ ** TO! I can’t do it! I’m too _fucked up in the head! I can’t oh no!”_

 

Brainz spun around to madly face the quivering flower, taking no notice to the fear he put in them. He roared hysterically.

 **“You were just** **_KIDS, why_ ** **would they do this to** **_YOOOOOU?!!?! Evil… DEATH WORSHIPPING MONSTERS.”_ **

 

It got louder and worse, his health wasn't going to support it for longer. He convulsed more and more.

" _ **HOW COULD THEY DO THIS TO KIDS?!?!"**_

_**KIDS?!** _

_**KIDS??!?!** _

_**KIDDS??!??!?!"** _

 

On his last repeat of the word he'd gotten more worked up than his self lament that his legs gave away, and Brainz collapsed onto his platform with a falling groan. His body couldn't cope with the stress anymore and he locked into place only convulsing as a whole. Drool and nose blood ran down his cheeks while his eyes blinked erratically like morse code

“J-j-j-j-jjerst-just- Kah-kaha-kghi-kids…”

As he puffed the foam from his mouth, he only repeated that deformed mantra… _they were just kids…_

Just as he'd reached the deepest, darkest depths of hell...  _of course:_ it had gotten worse. 

_They were just kids..._

 

 

 

But this time, it hit the floor, nothing could ever be worse than this for one sole fact....

_They were JUST... Kids._

 


	13. Unsound Association

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> H̵o̶w̴d̵y̸,̷ ̵i̴t̵'̵s̴ ̵y̴o̶u̶r̴ ̴b̷e̷s̶t̴ ̴f̶r̶i̴e̷n̴d̵  
> This unsettling sense of familiarity,  
> Is this..friendship?  
> Where have you seen this smile before?  
> A̷n̷d̸ ̷w̴h̸y̸ ̶d̵o̷e̴s̴ ̷i̴t̸ ̸h̶ ̶u̶ ̴r̸ ̴t̸ ̶?̷  
> Suffering, suffering.  
> Somebody will p a y.  
> T̸h̷e̵ ̴d̶e̷a̷d̷ ̷d̷o̵n̸'̷t̷ ̴g̵r̶i̸e̸v̵e̷.̷  
> A haunting “melody” fills the air  
> P̴O̷P̵!̷ ̵G̴o̵e̴s̷ ̶t̴h̴e̵ ̵w̷e̷a̶s̵e̸l̸!̴ ̶  
> ᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬᴴᴬ

“I’m **_fine!_** Just let me breathe for a second!”

 

It was the third time the question was cried out, that Brainz snapped out of himself and answered it. It reduced the panic in the flower, but not by much: they were trembling almost as much as him.

“What _was_ all THAT? You just fell down! What is _wrong_ with you?!”

 

They seemed terribly shaken, seeing the poor flower upset like this wasn’t helping him recover, he wanted to fix that, but he had to get himself back under control first. He forced himself to sit up and pulled at his collar to free his neck, hyperventilating and wiping at all the sweat.

“Hold on… lemme just… just gotta… I just need air… don’t worry… _please…_ just… hold on.”

 

They took his word and tried to give their assurance, despite how shaken they were.

“Okay.”

 

He slowed down, overzealous gasps for air retired down to exhausted sighs. Free hand pressed over his chest to feel the pulse catching up, calming down.

“Psychogenic seizures…-”

 

He rasped the two words out, looking in the general direction of his young friend. Clearing his throat to open it more for air. He needed to take deep breaths between parts of his speech still, but was talking nevertheless.

“- they’re nonepileptic… types of seizures… happen when I get…. _Really_ worked up.. _*Phew* *Hooh… Haa…*_ They only last for about ah-mm _mm…_ a-minute or so. I’m fine now. sssSorry for scaring you-hh… _there._ ”

 

Even though he threw an empty grin for the flower to disarm their concern, they were fixated on him and wouldn’t relax.

“Are you _really_ sure? That was _scary!_ I thought you were about to _die_ or something! My god!"

 

Brainz exhaled deeply.

“ _Nuuuooh…_ no… nothing like that, I wouldn’t be so lucky… no though, it’s nothing serious.”

 

The sarcasm was ill received to say the least, and seeing the sad  _perhaps offended_  expression on the flower: Brainz used it to turn the conversation back to them. If he didn’t care about himself, he didn’t want anybody to waste their time either. He went back to normal speaking.

 

“But you though… man I _really_ am sorry for putting you through that, I really had no idea, my mind is just _shot_ to hell. But you can take that episode as comeuppance for yelling atcha like that.”

 

The modesty couldn’t have been more obvious and more unrealized to him at this point. The flower rolled their eyes and sounded irritated again.

“It’s _fiiine,_ really, it IS. It really really IS, don’t beat yourself up about it, I’m just glad you’re OK... but you  _ARE_ okay, right? Like are you telling me the the truth?"

 

Brainz scoffed lightly, the flower was determined to care about him and he wouldn't be able to sway that. He'd have to let it go for now, not eager to start another poorly timed argument to grief this child.

“Yes... of course I am. I'm fine and i’ll stop caterwauling about it if _you’re_ ok too... we both good?"

 

He was met with a confirming "OK" to which he gave one himself.

"Okay, good. … but god still… I just can’t believe they attacked an innocent kid… it just-”

 

He wasn’t getting worked up again, that was already done and done, Brainz was to the point of shallow awe.

“- I’ll never be able to get over that! I just can’t even comprehend… how these things can live with themselves after doing something like that! God, I can't even begin to describe the night terrors..."

He began to drift off to somewhere else, but Brainz caught himself and reeled back to the flower, even providing a distraction to keep them from prying.

"-It was  _him_ wasn't it?"

 

The flower cocked their head to an angle, still slightly morose at the topic.

“Who?”

 

Brainz removed some of the vagueness even while taking notice to the flower’s will to change the subject, he just had to ask this one last thing and he’d promise not to bring it up anymore.

“The one who killed you… it was _Asgore,_ wasn’t it. Along with everyone else, am I right? You and your friend."

 

A crestfallen “Oh.” came out of the flower, Their eyes squared away from Brainz as if they were thinking of something. They looked back at him when they had something, even if it was inconclusive.

“All I know is that monsters did this to me… he could’ve put them up to it, I dunno… but the one thing I _do_ remember is that, me and my friend? We were actually trying to _help_ them in the end..”

 

This must’ve been the aftershock of abhorrent things Brainz would hear from this yellow little flower, he raised his voice again.

“ _What?!_ Are you serious?”

 

They thought of it for a bit, then nodded all depressed like.

“Yes… I’m sure of it now. Me and them, we came up with a plan to help them, cause they had problems. You can see how it turned out.”

 

A more inhibited wave of horror diffused into Brainz, far less aggressive than the first revelation, but still outraged all the right.

“Oh my good fucking _god!-”_ _  
_ He dropped the tone completely for a hushed digression for using profanity.

“-Oh my bad, sorry… but um… _yeah…_ they just keep getting more horrible don’t they? This is the most ff _ff-. *Messed*_ up place I’ve ever been in my life. Here I was giving them credit, because they have a _reason_ to hate me*-”

He spoke into his sleeve to define _reason._

“ _Even if they fucking started it.”_

Then back to the flower.

“- But you didn’t even do _anything,_ lesser you tried to help these miserable fucks?!-”

Brainz did not catch himself this time, because he was caught in a rant.

“-God these things _SUCK!_ They suck _sooo_ freaking hard! And lemme guess, lemme guess... did they butter you up with all sorts of sob stories and garbage to make _you_ feel like the bad guy?”

 

The flower went with his indignant attitude.

“That’s _all_ I used to hear from them, they _complained sooo_ much. It was everyday-”

They threw their voice to a pitch that Brainz had never heard before, making a mockery of a person he’d never heard before.

“- _Oh boo hoo, life stinks SOOO much down here. Waah waah waaah, the BIG BAD HUMANS.”_

 

Brainz flared a partially deranged look in his eye(s) but took sinister amusement from the mimicry.

“ _Hah!-_ That’s exactly what _I_ said a while ago! And here I thought I was getting the *special* treatment, these little turds are laughing at us all the way _huh?!”_

 

They both laughed scornfully, but Brainz’s sadistic little giggle and face were outmatched. The flower denatured their entire head, flashing a large array of slender teeth and vacant eyes as they tittered. Brainz took some intimidation from it, but was still riding on the laugh.

“ _Who-hoo-hoo-hoooa,_ that’s freaking creepy, dude! Put that face in a jumpscare and you’ll drum up business for laundromats! _Hah-haaaaa…_ Where’d you learn to do that?”

 

The flower reverted back to normal immediately and seemed humbled, self consciousness pulling them back with a stutter.

“Oh gosh, sorry. Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you, that was an accident.”

 

Brainz just blew a raspberry and gestured his good arm to discard the idea.

“Oh _*_ **_Pbhtbht!*_ ** that’s nothing dude. I just took it as the face you’d make when this place takes your last marble, don’t even worry about it. Honestly, I’m expecting my face to freeze into a rictus grin you’d find on a _real_ serial killer...  kind of like _this.”_

 

He demonstrated the capability of his facial muscles, flashing his silver fang in contrast to the yellow and brown stained teeth, tilting his head to the side. He stared right into the flower, eyes twitching… it didn’t take too long for them to shrink back a bit.

“heh…. Yeah… that’s… that’s a good one- could you go back to normal please?”

 

Brainz did of course, feeling a little bad for holding it that long.

“Oop, yeah: sorry. But you get what I mean, we _are_ actually a like aren’t we? Call us… _Selectively Sane.”_

 

He made the flower laugh again, more innocently. They couldn’t sound anymore _relieved_.

“Ooh man… you don’t even know what that means… what _this_ means to me. I just… I can’t even begin… **You** **_are_ ** **real, right?** I’m not crazy or anything?”

 

In that question, this flower went from being _like_ him, to an exact copy. Brainz’s face opened in surprise, giving weak and dumbfounded chuckles as he experienced what it was like to see all this from the _other side_. With that, he was able to muster grin that was as genuine as it was cocky.

“Buddy, I think of all the things I may know down here… I know what _that_ means above a **_hell_ ** of a lot of everything else. Because honestly? Don’t take this the wrong way but, **_DUDE…_ ** Man alive… you’re like the best friggen thing I’ve seen… like _ever._ And while I’m being honest? I was wondering the _same thing_ about you.”

 

The flower looked up to him in a whole new way, wondrous. Brainz just raised an eyebrow and nodded enthusiastically.

“ _Mmmmm-Hmm._ Big time. Being we both agree about just ***SO* *so*** much: Why don’t we give each other the benefit of the doubt and say we’re both _real,_ about as _real_ as this place at least… sound good?”

Brainz had shifted his entire approach throughout this conversation, becoming less geared and wired up, actually _relaxing_ if that was a thing he could do. He sat down and corralled his knees with his arm, the other one dangled that still relevant explosive around. He was more confident in his abilities.

 

The flower on the other hand… when Brainz had finished talking and asked that question. He’d never seen someone light up so much, the face they made: eyes sparkling and mouth agape. Without context, they could’ve won the _lottery,_ with the face they were making. Their jubilant jump to emotion agreed tremendously. Their roots could barely hold them from popping out of their spot.

“Yes… yes! _Oh my god,_ **_YES!_ ** Like **_SO MUCH *YES!!!*_ ** I _knew_ you were “the one”! I just _KNEW_ it!-”

 

They cooled the celebration down for just a quick digression, looking to the side.

“-I mean, I felt like this kind of with like… almost every human before you came-”

 

Then back to absolute joy.

“- but _NEVER_ like _THIS!_ Just-”

 

They could barely contain themselves, they were so happy. Brainz had _no_ desire to intervene, he was smiling too much to want to. The feeling when someone understands you utterly and completely, full empathy. Misery loves company, but _company_ loved to undermine misery.

 

The flower came to terms with themselves on their own and tried to calm down.

“Okay… okay… _phew!_ Don’t wanna look silly in front of the best guy ever-”

Brainz couldn’t help but chortle.

“- but um if you really _are_ good… do you think you would… do you think it’d be cool if…”

 

They were caught in a loop of rephrasing part of a question, affected by their newfound humbleness for the man who stood before them. The man decided to intervene now, just to help them out a bit, still beyond amused.

“You alright there, big guy?”

 

He really couldn’t tell actually, whatever they wanted to ask was making them _blush,_ considering flowers normally couldn’t _do_ that. It must’ve been major. But they took some more breaths and then spilled it out, rapid fire words synonymous to a kid tugging at their parent’s pant leg for something.

“ _Iwaswonderingifit’dbeokthatweworktogethrlikeateamandgetouttogether!”_

(I was wondering if it’d be OK, that we work together: like a team, and get out together!)

 

They made an *eep!* noise as they shut their mouth and suppressed any further words from bursting out, their childish display only grew worse when Brainz broke up, his laughter only being broken up by coughs, they didn’t stifle him any.

 

When enough of his guffawing had passed, and right before the flower would take it negatively, Brainz found the strength to control himself.

“Whew! Oh, excuse me! That was just too much… I haven’t been looked up like that for a _loong_ time… much less be treated like an _actual_ person! I never expected _that_ to happen again. If I’d known any better, I’d think you see me as a superhero!”

 

The flower was about to recede in embarrassment, but Brainz’s laughter was finally snuffed out and he answered.

“But sure!, If I’m gonna walk two moons in hell, might as well have some company!"

 

They departed from their timid feeling and glistened again.

“Ruh- _Reeaaly?”_

 

Brainz answered _that,_ by actually returning to the nasty water: wading through it and holding out his hand (After wiping the blood on his pants).

“Yeah… put’er there… that leaf’ll do. _Partner.”_

 

The handshake was mostly on his side, he assumed the leaves were vestigial, but was satisfied regardless as he gently swayed it with two fingers. With that, he sat back down on his plank, legs crossing again.

“So… what’s it looking like for us now? You had a plan?”

 

The flower took a moment to put away their excitement and presented themselves as professionally as they could, easier said than done but kind of cute.

“Right! I do, In fact I _doo._  *Ahem* So. You’re pretty newish to the Underground, you are. And _I’ve_ been down here for a _super_ long time. So I’m thinking, what if little old me can show you the ropes, and then with you, if anyone tries to stop us-”

 

They seemed to hiccup and snarled.

“ **Yᴏᴜ'ʟʟ PULVERIZE ᴛʜᴇᴍ ᶦⁿᵗᵒ** **_DUST!!”_ **

It took him off guard again, this hostility jumping from this exuberant joy, but he tried to comprehend it as some acute form of nervous twitch, brought on from the prolonged exposure to this place, pent up frustration leaving it to trigger at any time. He did the same thing, so it wasn’t _too_ hard to understand. Needless to say though, Brainz was still a little off par with the assumption, so he asked about _that_ instead, as the smile faded from his face.

 

“ _Me?_ Pulverizing _them?_ Now now, let’s slow down a sec. I’m actually *flattered* like not knowing I could feel flattered again, like _really._ But… I’m not a juggernaut. I’ll be lucky if I still have all my toes! I mean… I only ended up here because that “Uunda” fellow kicked the sloppy shit out of me.”

 

He felt bad saying this, and half expected to see a frown on the flower’s face for derailing their hopes, but they actually contested with him, trying hard to get his attention.

“Oh no! No no no! You don’t even know what you did… Brainz, all those battles you got into… you were _winning_ all of them!”

 

He couldn’t raise and complementary lower his eyebrows any more.

“ _*Really*_ I don’t think that’s how winning works… granted I haven’t _won_ ever, so I wouldn’t know what it _feels_ like, but… I don’t think I _won_ those fights.”

 

The flower was still at it though, they weren’t swayed at _all_ from the opposition. All of their petals fanned forward.

“Now hear me out! I don’t know how you did things on the surface, but let me the first to tell you that things just don’t work the same down here, you probably already know that, right?”

 

Brainz closed his eyes and nodded respectively, fiddling with his hands.

“Hmm, alright: Fair point.”

 

The flower continued, quickly dropping to a sinister voice again.

“The way it works down here? In this world… **Iᴛ's ᴋɪʟʟ ᴏʀ BE ᴋɪʟʟᴇᴅ.** ”

 

They knew to pause to allow the reaction from Brainz, who was a little less than “pleasantly surprised”.

“ _Hey!_ … that’s what _*I*_ always say!”

Again, taken back by the way they changed their outlook to present it, but respectfully overlooking _how_ they said it for the actual content. He was sure to invite them to continue.

“Go ahead, please.”

 

The flower went back to their tired sounding voice, what Brainz assumed was their resting state, being so bitter.

“That’s weird- Anyways, yeah. These monsters think they they’re _soo smart._ That they know everything. Whenever a human fell down here, they think that the human would only kill _them._ Or that they would get to kill them _first._ So even if you took them all out, they already saw it coming! They win either way.”

 

This was one hell of an unsure flower, while outwardly childish and immature, they were never consistent. Brainz had seen this kind of unsightly almost _nihilistic_ behavior… but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it because what _wasn’t_ familiar down here? He tried to contemplate in the background as the flower continued to talk.

“But _you…_ You’ve done something that NO one else has ever done!”

 

Their speech became something fantastic for Brainz again, he himself wouldn’t know to expect: so he asked, keeping outwardly cool.

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

They curved over to his direction, locking their eyes dead onto his for emphasis.

“ **You play by your OWN. RULES.”** ****

Before Brainz could make so much as a “huh?” the flower sought to explain it to him.

“- that’s right. Instead of letting the Underground get to you one way or the other, you just **_REFUSED_ ** it. You’re obviously not dead, and you haven’t been a pacifist either. But you haven’t taken a _SINGLE_ life!”

 

He knew he was supposed to take that in a good way, but all it managed to do was confuse and make him feel bits and pieces of hopelessness. He waved his arm to stop the presentation and injertected.

“Wait wait wait, I didn’t _kill_ anyone? That coke-snorting skeleton guy I blasted **POINT BLANK** with buckshot?? Okay well _fine,_ I saw him run off like it was nothing.”

 

He became more insistent and worried as he thought of the other fight he had, and pointed up to where he fell from.

“But what about that **_bitch_ ** with the spears? They weren’t made of bones, I was able to stick my _foot_ through the hole I made in them! You’re telling me I did jack-all to these goddamned things?”

 

His insistence was met with counter insistence, the flower made all sorts of noises to get him to stop.

“Now now now now, hold onto your pants, _hooold_ on, hold on!

You haven’t _killed_ anyone yet-”

 

They saw the return of a bleak face in Brainz and jumped up a level in volume and urgency.

“-BUT-but. That’s a _good_ thing! Yeah! That’s a _really_ **_REALLY_ ** good thing!-”

They asked the question Brainz most likely would’ve made, and answered it too while they were at it.

“ _Why???_ Firstly, even though you didn’t kill them, you still _hurt_ them… _really badly_ too. They have to recover really hard to get back to normal, you beat them up _good._ So they now know that you are _NOT_ to be messed with. And secondly the reason why this is good, you made their sense of comfort and safety blow up in their faces!”

 

He still wasn’t following, the flower _really_ tried to elaborate for him in the best way possible with hopeful tones and energetic holds on their words.

“I know you must be _soo_ confused! I know. But what you don’t know is that you made _them:_ the monsters you fought. You made _THEM_ just as confused, if not _MORE!_ When they saw you, they expected a “human” not “Brainz!” not how you walk, and how you _talk!,_ and how you cheat!, and how you _FIGHT!_ They never saw you coming! And now that you’re here and they’ve seen what you do, they don’t know WHAT you’ll do next! You are  _so_ much different than  _anyone_ else who's come down here."

 

Brainz was considering the entirety of what they were saying, but he picked at something small, withdrawing his anxiety.

“ _Cheating?”_

 

The flower nodded energetically.

“Oh yes! I saw what you did at that one puzzle, they never would’ve expected anyone, not even a _human_ to do that! You’ve given them something to worry about for the _other_ puzzles down the line.”

 

Again… Brainz didn’t pick what the flower wanted him to out of the statement, he picked a very minute thing out of it.

“ _More_ puzzles?”

 

The flower visible stuttered a bit from the change in pace, but quickly recovered and answered it.

“Huh? Oh yeah! That’s what monsters set up as “defenses” against humans.”

 

Brainz scoffed and his sarcasm made a return.

“ _Psshh!_ Next time I’m under attack, I’ll lay out a freaking jigsaw puzzle on the ground. Are you kidding me?”

 

The flower cracked up, and Brainz couldn’t help but join in. It soon became one of “those” moments, sharing a laugh: taking you out of the world for just those couple of seconds without worry.

 

As the flower stopped laughing, they seemed to show more comfort being around their new “friend”.

“But seriously, you are doing _amazing,_ at least compared to the other humans before you… they didn’t have nearly the stuff you’ve got.”

 

This would be the final thing misunderstood from the flower, Brainz sighed with the realization it came with and looked into the water.

“ _Yeaah…_ about that… you remember how I _had_ a pump action shotgun, the thing that let me do all that “amazing stuff” you saw?”

 

Without further delay, something erupted from the water between them, sending Brainz to a small jump onto his feet, but when the mist cleared: he stood motionless and bewildered. He spoke of the devil and it came: the shotgun had risen from the water, still as ruined and drenched as it was before: but held above by green vines wrapped around it. The flower explained the occurrence with a question.

“You mean _this_ thing?”

 

It took Brainz a second or two to comprehend it, and he only put half of it together when he answered nonchalantly and partially confused, shock almost hinting on his face.

“Yeah.”

 

The flower gazed at it as the vines moved and contracted, manipulating the thing and showing it around.

“I was wondering why you dropped it, well _here.”_

The vines carried it to Brainz, but he gestured to refuse it, they retracted and the flower looked perturbed.

“What's the matter? You don't want it anymore?"

 

Brainz just shook his head with a neutral expression on his face, then shrugged and closed his eyes.

“It’s nothing but dead weight now, I can’t use it anymore… it fired it’s last when I was up there.”

He got a disappointed “Oh.” from the flower, and the couple of vines holding the useless weapon retreated back into the water, submerging the thing for rest. Brainz kept the disappointed tone and added some more forlorn feel to it.

“Yeah… the problem is… that was the one thing keeping me alive, and _barely_ at that. Without it, I… really don’t have any slack…-”

He reached into his still damp pocket and pulled out the tiny pistol again.

“- I still have this thing too, yeah. But it _really_ doesn’t serve as a weapon… it’s original purpose was to be a gun that gets you to a _better_ gun… but I’ve-”

 

It went back to his pocket and he bowed his head a bit, feeling heavier as the thought formed inside of it.

“- I’ve kept it around just in case it gets _so_ bad… that I forget to leave a bullet for myself in the _real_ guns, but I have a backup. It was my substitute for not being able to find a cyanide pill to suck on." 

 

They shared a final forlorn moment… but the flower did not intend for it to last, their pep talk came back hard.

“But, you know something? That isn't such a bad thing."

 

Brainz looked up retaining the defeat he had from earlier.

“What’s that?”

 

The flower looked at him dead on, with determined eyes.

“The reason your weapon worked so well… _wasn’t_ because of **it** … did you know that?, you really didn't  _need_ it."

 

Brainz _didn’t_ know that, because he wouldn’t remember nonsense, he showed this with a low drone.

“No.. I'm pretty sure I need it and I thought that was kinda the reason it _did_ work, because that’s how _guns_ work… all I did was point and pull the trigger. It kept me from dying horribly or worse, s'not a science."

 

The flower wouldn’t have any of this pessimism, they shook their head defiantly and took none of it to consideration.

“But you keep forgetting, that’s not how it works _down here,_ everything you knew on the surface doesn’t apply here! Brainz… **Brainz-”**

 

The repeated themselves more assertively just to get him to look up at them.

“- Down here… it’s not how big the weapon is or how good it works… _it’s ALL in the person holding it._ ”

 

He still sounded bitter and stubborn, unfolding his hands and shaking his head: not understanding what they meant.

“On the surface that’s just a way of saying “Guns don’t kill people, _people_ kill people”.”

 

Again, another petal covered head shake, now more irritated at Brainz’s stubbornness.

“No no no… you’re not _getting_ it. The reason your weapon worked so well, was because you _wanted_ it to. When you used it, you _wanted_ to hurt them. You _wanted_ to fill them with holes! You wanted to **_blow them away!_ ** ”

 

He _still_ wasn’t getting it, but he sounded less dull and bitter at least with his question… like he _wanted_ to get it but he couldn’t.

“No man, the gun didn’t care what _mood_ I was in. It would’ve filled them with holes regardless if I wanted to or accidentally. It’d be illogical to-”

 

All of the sudden, he felt a cold slimy thing cover his mouth, following a confused muffled noise, he looked down to see the green plant tendril coming from the flower patch. The flower looked right at him and the vine shrank away from him.

“Shhhhhh… before you talk again… think about that word. “Eeel-log-jhick-cull” You learned it from the surface because it actually _worked_ up there… do you think that word has _any_ power down here? Any power at all? Has _anything_ made sense to you where you can use that word?”

 

With that explanation, he glared down at himself, looking at his contracting hands, looking around at the world he was sitting in, looking at the filthy sweater that’d been given to him, and finally stopping at the flower. His eyes opened enough *slowly* to show the flower that something had finally come through to him. Brainz was sure to share it, sounding candid.

“You’re _right…_ I haven’t been able to use that word unironically since I fell down here… and I’ve been judging this place as if it belonged to our world, as if _ANYTHING_ ever applied. Nothing’s ever going to make sense to a close minded man, is it?”

 

They shook their head slowly and somberly.

“No… and to be honest...that’s probably why you got so far already and why you’re still alive maybe… the other humans accepted it much quicker… they did that and got comfortable. But when they did, they let their guards down and then… they were gone. We never had a chance, Brainz… we really didn’t.”

 

A hard lump grabbed at his throat, and it hurt to force it back down. Brainz took a deep breath, fighting the urge to cough as it scratched his throat. The flower continued.

 

“Some of the things didn’t work on you because you felt that they wouldn’t, that they _couldn’t,_ but at the same time… there are things that won't work **for** you, for the same thing. You’d have to keep going back and forth, saying “yes” or “no”, the others got stuck saying “yes” you though… you’ve never accepted anything.”

They were right, even if it was the word of an immature flower he’d just met versus 40 years of experience… they were right.  If ever a time to let it go arose… it was when the sake of a long lost child rode on it. He knew that if he let go of the only sure things in his life, knowing how the world worked on the surface… that he’d have nothing left to be sure about, that he’d be lost. It was all he had left in his life… and now: he was going to risk it all. 

 

Having nothing to lose was a unique thing, it uprooted you from the ground and gave men wings. Brainz would only live to stay down to earth, but here he was: in a completely different dimension it seemed.  _He_ had nothing to lose... but this unfortunate child had  _him_ to lose, they were relying on him... so it trumped everything else.

 

When did he _ever_ make smart decisions? Hell was still piping hot, so now wouldn’t be that exception. Brainz nodded his head… and rephrased what was given to him… slowly and unsteadily as his mind departed from what he knew, into the void with no guarantee to come back.

“So…  when I used my gun… it worked… not because of the burning lead, but because I had the desire to pull the trigger-”

He looked innocently and timidly at the flower.

“- the fact I knew it could kill them and did it because of that… is that what you mean?”

 

They lit up once more and warmly accepted him.

“Yes! You got it! That’s it! Keep going!”

 

He did, gaining more confidence as the new concepts were born in his mind.

“But I did it… out of desperation? It wasn’t that I wanted to kill them, _I_ just didn’t want to die horribly… so it hurt like hell… but it didn’t bring them there, yeah?”

 

Never could a flower be more happy for their prodigy, their petals seemed change in colour: blending into a brighter and radiant sunshine yellow, they beckoned for him to keep going.

“There you go! You got it! And do you know what that means now??”

 

He held his forehead and brainstormed with the sea of new information, as the flower shook with anxious energy.

“If I put my mind to it, and did it with the purpose of killing them… they wouldn’t get back up?”

 

He received another satisfied nod, then rolled his eyes around and pointed a bit as he sought to finish the hypothesis.

“This is… this is a pretty _“far out there”_ idea, that given my knowledge and understanding of the world… make absolutely no sense at all. But I gotta believe it… just for the sake of giving me an advantage… while still remaining skeptical for everything else?”

 

They curbed their joy from bursting from them, by doing something Brainz never could foresee.

**“I am... so proud of you.”**

 

The way they said it, it was like they were holding something back along with the joy… Brainz winced and turned back to them, the words hit him like sitting in a cold bathroom.

“What? Why? Did I do something?”

 

The flower just smiled warmly, and smugly even.

“You’re going to be the _one,_ oh yes you are… I can’t wait, you _ARE_ the one.”

 

Of all the things this flower gave onto him to experience and experience again, the compliments and genuine praise were the most alien to him. He didn’t know how to take them, he didn’t know how to feel “special”, so anything giving him credit he just normally denied it, his self esteem just wasn’t there to receive it. 

“Oh no, not _even..._ I don’t deserve that. I’m kind of an idiot for not figuring it out earlier, as for being the “one”. I’m used to being that already, I’m nothing new.”

 

The flower saw this in him, and knew what to say, holding their assertiveness.

“ _Ohhh_ yes you are!. You’re the first one to ever to figure that out besides ME, and you did it _FAST_ And while you could still DO something about it _._ There’s no way I’m letting you hear the end of that, you are so freaking cool you _really_ are.”

 

Brainz snorted a bit and his mouth wobbled some, his hand had to cover it self consciously. He suppressed a bit of unfit laughter in place of other emotion.

 

They giggled sweetly as Brainz sat there trying to figure out what to do with the feeling they gave him. While they radiated with childish exuberance, here Brainz was acting like a toddler figuring which hole to place the round block into. He was absolutely flustered.

 

The flower’s smile grew more, but they figured he’d had enough of this and asked him something.

“So… what do _you_ think? You think you can do this? It’s going to be one heck of an adventure… you’ve only just started with what you’ve seen… and honestly, it may get a lot _harder._ ”

 

It was the final question they had, the ultimate one. Begging for him to receive responsibility, not only for his own life, but for theirs as well. This wasn’t just a plan, this was _trust._ It was such a powerful thing, almost too much for him to handle. But Brainz straightened his face, lined up what he needed to do for this child, and looked at his hand.

 

The hand that had been barring his desolate decision to kill himself this entire time by restraining the grenade, he took a very long look at it and eventually nodded to it. Then began to look back to the flower.

“You wanna know what I think? I think… _I think._ That I’m not going to use this on myself… you wanna know what I think?-”

 

He held it up over his head, profoundly, and his voice evolved into something bold and erudite.

“- _I_ think that I’m going to TAKE this here Military Explosive. And I’m going…-”

 

Then he leapt to his feet and shouted loudly, for all to hear and the intention to be known.

“- to *SHOVE IT* **_right up ASGORE’S ASS!!!”_ **

 

He then spun rapidly to the flower and bent down towards them as close as he could without falling into the water. He was able to ignore the condition inside of his throat and project with an influx of energy.

“ **_YEAAAUH!!_ ** **Whattuya say about** **_THAT!!?”_ **

 

Brainz looked right into them, a motivated gaze lighting up his beat up face, smiling as much as he could, almost looking rictus.

 

The flower was frozen with surprise and as they looked into him. They could _feel_ the intent and the _energy_ behind it. And this time, his lone green eye wasn’t what made the stare… it had hints of _orange_ beginning to blend into it, looking like the flames that had reignited inside of him. The eye wasn’t alone either. Brainz’d had a dead eye rolling around in the socket for the whole conversation, but as he stared into them… the flower saw it _move_. How it’d rolled up to match his other eye and stare into them, dilating when it focused as if they had woken it up with Brainz.

 

The flower chortled, then started to flat out laugh.

Brainz did too and went all over the place, rejuvenated.

 

They both laughed persistently seemingly unknowing of what was so funny: but finding each other’s laughter to make it funnier. When the laugh had seemed to start dying down, the flower debunked what was so funny… by hysterically adding to it.

“Wait wait wait! Do You-you…  don’t you mean _“_ **_ASS-gore?”_ ** ”

 

Brainz lost all of his focus and started to roar with laughter, holding onto his chest and throat from how much it hurt to laugh but not caring or helping it. He rolled onto his back and coughed with the howling. The flower continued to lose it too. How immature, but graciously welcome for both of them.

 

“Oh god my stomach! My throat! I’m gonna barf again! Oh my god!”

Brainz pounded on the platform, just wheezing his limited air away, risking suffocation until it stopped being so funny.

 

After hacking a tenth of his body weight in phlegm, Brainz wiped at his eyes despite the lack of tears in them. Still stifling the aftershocks of giggles.

“Hoo.. _whew!_ You’re gonna kill me, make me-”

A chortle snuck out.

“- _*GHcnk*!_ Laugh so much… ahh my god…”

 

He looked at the flower again and saw their desperate attempt not to laugh anymore too, so he wheezed some more and waited for it to pass.

“Okay! Okay… no more.. No more. I can’t take it”

They finally stopped but couldn’t wipe the terribly amused looks off of their faces, Brainz just shook his head playfully disapproving at the flower.

“Why was that so freaking funny?”

 

The flower was still fighting the receding chuckles, but had enough composure to tak.

“I don’t even know, that was _silly._ ”

 

Brainz chortled lightly and good humoredly, but went back to normal, remembering a blunder he did.

“Yeah… but um actually… I may not be able to give him *this* suppository, actually.”

 

The flower had taken it to heart, and was taken off guard by this.

“Awwh what?! Why?!”

 

Ever so sorry to disappoint, he pointed at the “suppository” which started to cramp his hand from holding it for so long.

“Lost the pin-the thing that keeps this from blowing up when I let go of it, no way I’m gonna find it in _this_ mess, so I’m gonna have to find a safe place to chuck this without risking a cave in-”

The flower looked down, perhaps understanding.

“Hmmmm…”

Brainz tried to cheer them up and cracked a smile.

“Eyy now, dun worry about it, we’ll stick something _else_ up his-”

 

“You mean _this?”_

His smile dropped as another vine rose from the water, a small metal ring and pin clutched in its grasp.

 

The brief astonishment that took over Brainz was ended with a delighted “Ahah!”

“Ahhh _dayum!_ **_NICE_ ** one, dude! Hell yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!-”

His fingers gestured, fancy for the pin.

“-Gimme here.”

 

He snatched the thing from the vine and it **_*clicked!*_ ** back into the grenade, finally putting it to sleep and finalizing Brainz’s will not to use it on himself anymore. He tested the thing by tossing the grenade up into the air and catching it playfully. As he sought to return it to its belt loop, a thought came to him, seeing the vine retreat back below the water.

Being everything was coming back to him, especially now: _even the nightmare._ Those weird looking plant tendrils looked familiar. A serious question began to come to him as he slowed down his movement, delayed by preoccupation.

“Heey… that thing you can do with those thorny things… you didn’t when I was- y'know... that  _thing?"_

 

The flower lost their smile too, keeping the vine above the water.

“Hmm? What thing?”

 

“Ehh-”  
It wasn’t _too_ important, at least not right now, Brainz shook his head dismissively and dropped the tone.

“- nevermind, nothing important right now.”

Then went back to his previous contentedness.

“But hey! Looks like we **_will_ ** shove this grenade up his ass! And with _that_ being said… why don’t we get the royal hell _out of here._ Before my nose commits suicide!”

 

The flower looked content again too.

“Sounds good! So, you can just keep going down that way, you can get out of the nasty juice and-”

* * *

 

They stopped smiling and speaking all together and their eyes squinted into something shifty, Brainz felt them going into him and tripped up a bit.

“Wha? What’s the matter? Something on me?”

 

The flower only squinted even tighter and began to hunch forward to get a better look, Brainz began patting at himself nervously and losing some of his newfound cool.

“ _What??_ Dude, you’re giving me goosebumps here, what the hell are you seeing on me?”

 

Suddenly, without warning: the flower’s eyes shot open in surprise and they retreated into the flower bed, leaving Brainz alone to his massive confusion following a small jump.   

 

( **!!?!** )

He stopping thinking of himself and began spinning and turning rapidly, feeling a potent sense of paranoia and danger.

_“Whi.. wha… the-fu… what?!”_

 

He spun from one heap of trash to the other, previously inert and out of mind now becoming sinister and unknown. The only thing Brainz knew was the something spooked the flower, and he couldn’t find it, he was about to make a frantic dash out of where he was: until he heard something behind him.

 

“...ohh… did i interrupt you guys?...”

 

He jumped again and scrambled to face it, it was unlike any voice he’d heard so far: it was new and that was all it needed to be to be untrustable, despite the weak tone and diffident feeling in it.

“ _Who SAID that?!?”_

 

Within a second of him exclaiming that impulsive demand, his explosive was brought right back into action, his other hand this time, the other one had a checkerboarded rash onto it from handling the thing for so long.

 

“Not this _shit_ again!! Don’t you fuck with me! … I’ll- _*_ **_Euuagh?!?*_ **

This digression of a frightened noise came from him finding the culprit behind this, more likely: the culprit fading in and making their existence obvious for him.

 

It looked like a sentient halloween decoration, the first and most juvenile image to come to mind when the word “ghost” runs across your brain. A translucent bed sheet apparition, floating in the air yet slouched with poor posture. And the eyes, taking up most of its “face” wobbling like a sad dog.

 

Inexplicably, the panic succeeded immediately with the grenade being put back to bed. Brainz’s face deflated and his fear with it. He was nothing but exasperated, and he actually addressed the floating thing rasping a truly unamused drone.

“Y-yyyou gotta be fucking kidding me…”

 

After insufferable moments for the thing he was glaring at _hatefully,_ it seemed he was looking right through it. Actually, he _was_ looking right through it. The thing seemed to lose some of its translucency as if it’d physically become self conscious. It’s voice seemed to match with it, becoming as unsteady as it looked.

 

“... ooh noo… _oooh_ no… i made your friend leave didn’t i?”

 

Brainz had almost forgotten that, this _thing_ fumbling before him had done just _that,_ the fact they sought to remind him, was taken in the most patronizing way. To say the least, he became irate on the spot, throwing caution with new encounters aside and letting his disgruntlement run his mouth for him.

“ _Yeah!_ You did, **_asshole!!_ ** The **fuck** do you **_want?!”_ **

 

The ghost shrank back further, showing exaggerated intimidation, it moaned sadly and lost even more of its solidity. It tried desperately to be penitent as.

“... oooh… oooh noo, so-sorry…. i just wanted to say _hi…_ i didn’t mean to… oh no…”

 

Brainz rejected the apology with generous prejudice, and hurtful mockery. Forcing his voice into a grating whine.

“ ***Oh no!* *** **_oh no!* *OH NO!*_ ** Fuck you! You did that on _purpose!!-”_

Then  demeaning assumption.

“- got bored of seeing me _actually_ happy for once?! Decided you wouldn’t have any of that? **_MMM???_ ** Wanted to gouge it out of me and see what happens?! Think it’s fucking **funny?!”**

 

His face conformed into a snarl, while the specter’s “face” hadn’t changed any from its original timid look, it _did_ start to produce tears though.

“ooooh... noooo…”

 

Brainz took a small notice to the droplets hitting the wood he stood on, how they bore through it like acid, but only for a quick peripheral glance. He affixed all of his exasperation onto the ghost as it wept softly.

“i’m sorry… i’m leaving now…”

 

Brainz _completely_ agreed with the idea, his arms violently shooed at the thing as his mouth continued to erupt, he was _more_ than enthusiastic to make it leave.

“ **_YEAH! GO!!_ ** _Get the fuck outta here!!_ **_GO!-GO!-GO! LEAVE!!! Go tell on me or something, I don’t fucking care!”_ **

 

The thing faded out existence, an apologetic farewell whimpered out as it left.

“... sorry…”

 

He gave his farewell too, still lashing his arms around.

 _“Yeah!_ **_BYE!! GOOD RIDDANCE!- the FUCK outta here!!!”_ **

 

Brainz waited until he was gratuitously sure it was gone, then blew the majority of his steam out and wincing at his throat. Sitting back down on his plank, and utilizing the last of his frustration.

“Fucking ghosts??? **_Really?_ ** Skeletons throwing parts of their body at me. Ghosts who cry acid tears. What’s next? _The creature from the Black Lagoon_ with a machine gun?? _..._  Jesus christ!.... Uuugh!”

 

He took a deep breath and turned to the flower bed, sounding gentle again.

“It’s ok, buddy. It’s gone now.”

He received no response, so he tried with more volume and emphasis.

“Hey! It’s OK, you can come out. I made-em fuck off.”

 

Still nothing, Brainz felt another rise in annoyance paired with a little bit of grief, he tried _one more time,_ and waded back into the water to search through the flower pile for his friend.

“ **_Dude!_ ** Are you even there?! **_It’s Over!! I made the stupid thing LEAVE, you can come OUT now.”_ **

 

Yell as much as he wanted, he wouldn’t get a response because the flower was nowhere around, a furious sigh and two hands splashing into the water agrily showed how he felt about this.

“Well that’s just _fucking peachy!_ Stupid bitch ass ghost! I swear, they come back again and I’ll have a dirt devil bag with their name on it!”

 

He sighed again, honestly this time, and turned around to the only path he could take through the trash, he calmed down some and was about to start moving, feeling a slight reprieve in his frustration by remembering something.

“Huuughh… well… flower said he was able to follow me all day and stuff… they’ll probably find _me_ … I _hope."_

 

Brainz nodded to himself... then moistened his lips.... cleared his throat and...

 

"Well...  _now_ what?"

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Howdy,  
> This may feel like a bit of a shorter chapter, if it does.... Not to worry!  
> The next chapter will be posted tomorrow!
> 
> What will be chapter 14 and this chapter were originally to be one chapter, but it had grown so large that I decided to split it.


	14. Unconditional LOVE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ᵢ̴ₜ̸'̶ₛ̷ ̴y̵ₒ̷ᵤ̸ᵣ̴ ̵ᵤ̴ₙ̵b̵ᵢ̴ᵣ̵ₜ̶ₕ̴d̶ₐ̷y̴!̸ ̴
> 
> Why are you staring like that?  
> That look in your eyes, there's ᴍ̶ᴜ̷ʀ̵ᴅ̶ᴇ̶ʀ̶ in them.
> 
>  
> 
> Be careful with that, you could really ʜ̶ᴜ̸ʀ̸ᴛ̸ someone! 
> 
> Why don't you sit down, have a cup of tea and think this through;  
> You don't want to lose your head over this,  
> B̸U̵T̵ ̷T̵H̶E̴Y̸ ̵D̶O̸…
> 
> W̴ₑ̶'̸ᵣ̵ₑ̶ ̴ₐ̴ₗ̵ₗ̷ ̷ₘ̷ₐ̶d̶ ̶d̴ₒ̶w̶ₙ̵ ̶ₕ̵ₑ̴ᵣ̸ₑ̴.̷ ̴

_"Ghaaukck!"_

Brainz made the mistake of trying to breathe through his nose again and gagged.

 

“ _Yeck! I_ think what I'll do is get the fuck outta here! This place is giving me a rash."

 

With that, Brainz had finally spent enough time wallowing, and began to trudge through the water: taking redundant care not to let some of the floating trash touch him. But he was already covered in liquid trash, so the care didn’t last too long, a low grade gripe on what he was swimming through.

"Jesus. Christ."

 

Speaking of care, being he had nothing but his thoughts to himself: Brainz felt his health come back into the spotlight. His ankle still hurt and probably didn’t appreciate the rancid water, his stomach was in dull agony: not to mention _hungry_ despite just sicking something up. His chest felt _crowded_ like it was filled with sandpaper, not to mention his near insufferably dried throat, dehydrated too. His head felt like it was on crooked, and reminded him of the trauma with a throbbing bump. To tie all of this up… he could “hear” his body crying for narcotics… he’d be cold and clammy, erupting into a freezing cold sweat regardless of his little “bath”.

 

But there was nothing he could do about any of it, except push on, and now for the good of someone _besides_ him. It was a strange feeling… having someone depend on him again. Maybe it was why he was still walking and moving on with all these ailments… especially the drug withdrawal. Brainz remembered the last time he went cold turkey with opiods, huddled on the floor of a truckstop bathroom moaning about the “table bugs”. It was far more debilitating than _this-_

 

The waterfall stretched on for as long as he did, bringing more fresh water to be contaminated by this brown swamp, towers of trash that made him question their integrity as he passed.

 

-Brainz pulled out his lighter and flicked some of the water droplets off, getting it to spark up a flame after the fifth strike. He was… mixed to say the least, he was grateful that he wasn’t revoked of his primitive advantage to start fires, but all he could _really_ think about was how badly he needed a cigarette. He already established, there was no way he was getting his fix from the soggy carcinogens now. _That_ was another downer.

 

Brainz could either depress himself with that, or obsess over the many infections and parasites he probably contracted from this water, or die a little more inside from the smell. He’d much rather take in the garbage piles, recognizing some brands in there and coming up with a rant, no matter how petty to keep himself busy.

 

“They steal our _trash_ too? Because I doubt Walmart opened a fucking store down here… these shits are worse than raccoons.”

 

He made a stop upon finding a larger wooden platform at the center of a small chamber dressed with trash, upon getting out of the water: Brainz looked up at the source of the water, a small light _incredibly far away_ could be seen. He tilted his head some as he squinted.

 

“Huhhh… is Ebott some kind of landfill or something? I-eeeey… don’t remember seeing one… but then where would the water come fr-”

 

Without warning, everything went dark and Brainz recoiled as something slimy struck him on the face from above. He yelled, disgusted and surprise.

“ **_EUUAgh! Fucker!”_ **

With a convulsive cringe, Brainz snatched the assailant and whipped it off his face and into the water, splashing some of it onto himself. He braced as he shot his attention to what it was.

 

_A greasy black banana peel._

 

He made another, prolonged, disgusted whine and rubbed the residue off of his face, only smearing more of the nasty water from his sleeve.

“Eeee- _EEE-_ ** _EWWWw! GOD!!_ ** That’s fuck’n nasty!  _ **GROSS!!"**_

 

He shuddered and shook himself off of the cringy feeling and groaned.

“God, I hate this place… swear to god…”

Then sighed and carried on begrudgingly, muttering disgruntled things to himself and pouting his face.

 

He made a turn and stopped upon expecting the next room. A pile of soggy cardboard boxes sat in the company of a decrepit looking bike, an _entire_ bike. It didn’t look like restoring it would be financially wise, but it still had some good parts to it, mind the rust. He couldn’t help but be frugal.

“Really? Who the hell throws away an entire bike??? Handlebars, chain and all?? It’s at _least_ worth something in scrap metal!...”

 

A more _disappointed_ sigh.

“People are _so_ stupid, and monster freaks are just retarded-”

He passed by the abandoned thing and squeezed the horn, smirking at the pathetic noise it made.

“-really makes me wonder though… what else is down here?.... hmm? What's this?"

 

A small plastic case bumped into him, Brainz bent over and picked it up: it was some sort of a DVD case and he examined the interesting label that covered it. It was a mess of blurred colors and hard to see characters, and that was without the water damage warping it. He had to squint to make out the letters on it.

"Mew mew Kissy cutie two??? The hell is that?"

 

He turned the box over to see some more lettering, only this side wasn't in English but instead some Asian dialect he just couldn't read. He soured his face at it.

 "Pah... no  _wonder_ someone threw this out-"

He threw it back into the water disdainfully and scoffed to himself.

"-Pft, I hate anime." 

 

And he was off again, he rubbed his chin and began scouting out some of the more prominent looking piles of garbage, a scavenger’s intuition.

“I could go for a lead pipe, or a 2x4, or something… _anything_ so that I’m not going around punching them.”

 

He picked the nearest pile, swallowed his squeamishness and began digging into it, wincing and almost retching at the feeling of _mushy_ things and retreating his hand, rubbing in on his jeans furiously. Then feeling stupid.

“ _*Gee*_ what did I _think_ was gonna be inside a pile of trash? Gold coins?”

 

He stepped back for a moment and rubbed his eyes, introspectively: irritating them so they’d match with his emotion.

“God… what am I doing?”

Dumpster diving? Didn’t he have better things to do? A discouraged hand grabbing for a small colourful box on the pile would tell him, “no”.

 

He expected disappointment with a rhetorical question as to why he went for it… but he felt more weight than logical for an empty box… then tilted it so the content(s) would fall into his hand.

“A bottle-”

It was indeed, a translucent little thing with a fancy cap, viscous red liquid sat inside.

“Wait…”

His movement picked up speed as he searched the bottle for answers, the label was mostly gone: but a small chunk of it told him _everything_ he wanted to know, even if it only had half of a word on it.

“Holy shit! This is Children’s Tylenol!! This is a low grade _painkiller!”_

 

The box went flying and the childproof cap stood no chance to him, it almost joined the box in flight, but Brainz maintained just a small bit of rational thought before chugging the bottle.

“Wait… why did someone throw this out?-”

Then he looked into the cap and as he read the black print on it, he came to the first conclusion..

“-unless… it’s… _expired…_ ”

**_020806 (02/08/2006)_ **

 

With the aid of finger math, he deduced that he arrived at this bottle of medicine over a decade late. He winced and sighed… but stopped that too.

“Wait a sec! Didn’t they say that medicine is fine like… _fifteen_ years after it expires or something? Or that when it expires… it gets more powerful? Euuugh… uhh.”

He sniffed it… smelled OK.

 

In the end, he believed whichever reason made him feel the least gross for what he was about to do. He shrugged and sucked down the whole bottle, retching when it was all gone and desperately trying to get the taste out of his mouth as the syrup ran down his throat.

 

“Yheeucghk! Cherry… I never liked that flavor… oh well, beats the taste of sewer water...  but just barely.”

 

He tossed the bottle over his shoulder and began to make for another pile.

“Mweh…  hopefully that’ll take the edge off.”

 

Brainz picked the “least nasty” looking pile to actually examine, looked like it had some metallic things in it, judging by the amount of rust.

“Eh, tetanus is the least of my worries.”

He wasn’t _too_ concerned with looting through trash piles, by all means: he was used to it. With chain restaurant dumpsters being his main food source up top. It was just, _this_ trash pile could’ve been over ten years old for all he knew, it sure smelled like it.

 

Brainz shook his head and make “tch” noises at the fifth aluminium can he tossed.

“Haven’t people heard of _recycling?_ Or is that just a myth and _this_ is where that stuff actually goes? “Out of sight, out of mind” am I right?” A dead toaster and a decapitated lamp, a keyboard missing most of its keys.

 

He was just about to give up on the pile, finding nothing of use: when his disturbance caused something to topple off of the pile and land in front of him, giving a small splash. Brainz looked down and picked up what looked like an aerosol can. He read the partially dissolved label on it, while brushing coffee grinds off.

 

**_20% MORE!!_ **

**_Super turbo Engine Degreaser._ **

“Car spray… hmm, that’s curious…”

The weight of the aerosol can was suspect, as if it had a way to go before being empty… Brainz rotated the thing around slowly, the flashy appealing logo made for store shelves didn’t warrant his attention, he was after the boring column of text on the back. Specifically the big bold scary words next to the pyramids with pictures of explosions, flames, and skulls in them.

 

**_EXTREMELY FLAMMABLE DO NOT EXPOSE TO FIRE OR HEAT._ **

 

He smirked at the sight of it and playfully asked it something.

“Now why would I do such a thing like _that?”_

Brainz reached into his pocket and brought out the only thing he had that survived, being the zippo lighter, he flicked the damp flint wheel.

“It’s almost as if they _want_ me to expose it to fire or heat… well, I don’t want to disappoint anyone.”

 

On the third strike, the lighter brought its flame into existence: Brainz held it away from him into the open and pushed down on the spray head.

**_*FWOOOSH!!!*_ **

 

He nearly dropped both of the items from the surprise.

“Who-hoa- _Hoooa!”_

He wasn’t surprised to see a flame burst out in front of him, that was what he _expected_ it to do (That and maybe just _MAYBE_ explode in his face), he just _didn’t_ expect it to be over five feet long.

 

So he tried it again, with some experience to go by now.

**_*FWOOOOOOMMMn!!!!*_ **

He held the flame for longer just to see how well it sustained itself, chortled grimly at the effectiveness of it and held the can out for him to inspect.

“Oh, fuck the hell, **yes.”**

 

The third and longest flame he produced… was just for _fun_ this time. An alluring sense of coolness ran through him, making his “out-loud” thoughts sound urbane, not so much rasped.

“I wonder, if this’ll work.”

Something interrupted his sight for a moment, his vision being taken to someplace else: a red tinted scenario. He could see his enemy thrashing and rolling around on the ground, the flames coloring the armor red hot. The agony as their flesh seared and burnt to ash…  it was almost real enough to hear, until he pulled himself back to the real world with a sharp grin.

“Yeah.”

He tossed the can from hand to hand, maintaining that look on his face as he thought of it more, suppressing laughter.

 

“Gee though, I wonder what _else_ is in this place? If we’re tossing away a perfectly good flamethrower… what about something to wipe that smile off someone’s face? Can’t smile without teeth…”

 

He saw something peculiar...On top of a pile sitting behind a junked computer tower, a rust and red toolbox took the words from him, he snapped out of his unsightly demeanor and let his excitement show.

“- _GHI!... OR_ I could just find the whole damn toolbox, _yes!_ That works too!”

 

He rushed over to it and only lit up more seeing the small lock holding it shut.

“And it Hasn’t. Even. Been. Opened... -”

 

He looked up into the abyss above and scoffed, humorously

“I don’t understand people, maybe there’s a severed hand in here.”

 

He knew he was going to find out from just looking at the lock it’d been crippled from rust and probably didn’t need too much to finish it off. Brainz put his new weapon on top of a mostly flat surface and scanned the pile for something blunt that didn’t run the risk of exploding if he used it as a hammer.

 

A corroded lantern battery found inside of a pizza box lid would do just that. The lock practically disintegrated with relative ease, he gave thanks to the battery by tossing it over his shoulder, hearing a **_*plip!*._ **

 

Brainz rubbed both of his hands together eagerly and went to unlatch the container.

“All _lllrighty_ now… let’s have a look, give me a skeleton hand or something.”

 

The thing creaked open and the contents were brought into the light, didn’t look like any remains were stashed in there, but Brainz was all but disappointed, he was almost ecstatic given what he was seeing. The thing was in disarray from being jostled around to get here, but there quite a lot _to_ be disorganized, this looked like a full “all purpose” handyman’s tool collection. The variety was fantastic.

He was all but ready to start rifling through it, but something took him away from from doing so. He heard something, something besides the sound of flowing water and his breathing.

 

Just very faintly, with an even sound that echoed around the whole chamber, a sniffling noise, somewhere, somebody was crying.

 

Brainz backed away cautiously from the toolbox, trying to keep the noise he made from muffling the sniffling. He began looking for the answer, leaning to get a view behind some of the larger rubbish piles. He called out.

“Hello?”

No intent, no assumption: he just wanted to know.

“Is anyone there?”

 

It didn’t seem like anybody was, neither out in the open or hiding behind a trash pile, not a person at least, he thought of someone else and called solicitously for them.

“Little flower? Is that you? I’m _here!_ It’s OK.”

 

He was still alone, and the crying still persisted… but then a reason hit him… and he turned around abandoning the tools and his new weapon. Muttering to himself to make sure he knew what he was doing.

“The flowers… he could be back there, I-i gotta-”

 

But no… as he backtracked… the sniffling noise wouldn’t carry that far, wherever it was… it _couldn’t_ have been where he came from.

 

He went back to his spot and tried one more time, risking a coughing fit by projecting his voice.

“ _Is there_ **_ANYONE_ ** _there?!”_

His request ran through the entire room, coming back to him in the form of an echo, but that was the only thing that did.

Nobody answered him, and nobody came, the noise wouldn’t stop… so Brainz shrugged irritatedly and tried to ignore it.

“Hmph, _fine_ then… not my problem.”

 

Back to the toolbox, Brainz began rummaging through it, employing the pizza box lid as a table to showcase all he’d taken an interest in, he wouldn’t be able to carry much: considering he’d already be lugging around the flamethrower can. Every tool he removed had a reason and/or an experience to justify their worth.

  * A classic clawhammer for D.I.Y unwilling dental work, or head denaturing, with a synthetic handle and everything! Heavy duty indeed.
  * Locking vice grip, pliers. Not the best for hand to hand combat, but the things these could do: make them talk, or make them never talk again.
  * Big handled phillips and flathead screwdrivers… fancy a man to be a fencer and these can puncture cardiac tissue just like common tissue.



A small box of segregated screws and nails gave away the ruse of a false bottom, taking it out presented Brainz with _more_ options.

  * Knives, one for cutting boxes and one for cutting drywall, both for cutting jugulars and rending flesh. Plenty of keyhole saws too, barely marred by rust.
  * Last and best of all, a half spent roll of black gorilla tape: there was no explanation needed for this.



 

He looked at the wide selection and pondered it until his headache kicked back in.

“Ugh.. I _really_ wish I had my backpack, I can barely carry _any_ of this: but I just _know_ I’ll need _all_ of it.”

 

He had to pick up each tool again, each one filling his mind with pictures of their use, all of them bashing or tearing the life out of his antagonist. He just _couldn’t_ decide, and it made him anxious, anxious to pick the best one… feeling an obligation to inflict as much pain as he could now.

 

The heavy thought load made his head pulsate around the bump he had, Brainz grunted painfully and held his hands on it as he knelt down for a moment, the pain felt like it surged from his head and pushed on his right eye, the light from above began to hurt again so he closed it for relief: waiting for the moment to pass.

 

He’d all but forgotten the anomalous ability his red eye had, which it graciously reminded him, by allowing him to maintain a monochrome world of sight.

“Hnng… right.”

 

Brainz nodded to himself and gazed at the lower tiers of the trash pile in glorious black and white. A lawn chair folded the wrong way, a crushed shoebox with what _used_ to be edible seeping out of it and an incredibly bright red reflector, peeking out from deeper behind the trash… wait

Brainz switched eyes, and of the colours returning to the world, “painfully bright RED” was _not_ among them, he couldn’t see into the pile being it was so dark inside.

 

But going back to the monochrome world begged to differ, the circle glew like molten steel, it was _radiant_ , it wasn’t reflecting _any_ light, whatever it was: it was making its OWN light. Yet it didn’t even appear to exist when he looked at it normally! What was he looking at?

 

He recalled too, the _other_ abnormality of this freak eye: where some things just decided to turn red. Usually when they begged to question his mental resolve.

 

On a quickly judged, mercy of the unknown decision, he squinted with his blood red eye and reached in past the plastic splinters and soaked cardboard. He felt something, inexplicably cold and woody for how much it glew, and was able to pull it out with little ease or risk of collapsing the pile. And out it came, the long and slender body showed its true color being exposed to the light, dark brown… with a golden trim in the middle.

 

He didn’t even need to inspect it, it was a brand he _easily_ recognized, one of the most iconic of it’s class, renowned by even people like him. It demanded he call it by the name etched onto the side.

“Louisville Slugger.”

 

He stroked the length of the abandoned ashwood bat gently, running his rough hands up and down the splintering wood. He did question why he was sitting here doing this, but not for his own merits.

“Now who… in their right mind, would throw _you_ away?.”

He wasn’t asking himself rhetorically from how he said it, he was deliberately speaking to the bat. He rubbed his fingers together, feeling the small splinters catching onto him, the whole bat was slightly warped, coming undone on the surface just so slightly. Brainz flicked the splinters away and continued to console the thing, back to the charmed voice.

“You’re just a little rough around the edges… _that’s_ no reason to toss-... _oh?”_

 

He was sidetracked from his comforting attitude as his hand noticed more _obvious_ signs of damage just on the business end of the bat. Some indents and chips… much too prominent for _baseballs_ of all things to inflict. When he turned to examine it-

“ _Ohhh.”_

\- those weren’t _just_ indents and dinks, they had a pattern to them. A **_BITE_ ** pattern. Teeth marks.

It became very clear to him, this bat was never used for sport. But it was _certainly_ well used for someone else’s needs, the rust brown splotches all over the head put it all together.

He sniggered smugly… subtly.

“Ohh _I_ see… you’re a **murder weapon** aren't cha? You got to play with people’s heads.”

 

He held it out and gave “tch” noises out of pity for such a grizzled weapon, slowly shaking his head with that sinister smirk that just wouldn’t leave.

“What a fate you got, who would’ve thought they’d love you and leave you in the trash just like that? Mm…. now I’m sure your owner, must’ve broke his little heart giving you up… seeing _I’m_ the one who found you, I’d say he got off scot free… because buddy: you and me? We’re both guilty souls… Kindred spirits.”

 

He sniggered some more, content and amused with himself.

“Why don’t we do each other a favor. I’ll take you out of retirement, get you some more **work,** and _you help me_ by caving some heads in for me… whattaya say?”

 

He took the silence as a more than enthusiastic “yes” and held the weapon up like a prize.

“We have a _winner!_ Oh we are just going to get along, _fabulously!_ C'mon now, let’s get to it.”

 

He interrupted himself with a now _deeply_ irritated grunt that broke the tone of his discovery.

“Is that stupid crying _ever_ gonna stop? Shit’s….-”

 

His head felt like it was trying to move on it’s own, Brainz held onto it with his hand, covering his good eye again and seeing the bat in it’s red glow. He remembered what he wanted to say and made sure to shout it, looking up again.

“- _Annoying!..._ Whatever…”

He tried to reassure himself to ignore it again… obviously bothered.

“- It’s _fine!_ Just ignore it, goddamit!”

 

Brainz grabbed his can, rested his new weapon over his shoulder and made the first steps to leave. He saw the beginning of elevated dry land just up ahead.

 

But he stopped… and turned back to the toolbox, then looked at his bat, just trying to keep himself occupied.

“Yknow… I think I need another minute with _you.”_

He was holding a classic: a simple yet formidable weapon… but for _his_ purposes, he thought: it was missing something, a little _oomph…_

_…_

_Or perhaps a little INTENT._

  
[I'd LOVE to get my hands on you.](https://youtu.be/mSUMCz1Usk8)

 

Brainz grabbed the duct tape and shuddered deviously at the sound of it being unrolled, cutting it off with a **_*rip!*_ ** Wrapping the elongated piece around the bat until a comfortable grip was made.

_“Nice”_

Now he could swing as hard as he wanted without cutting up his already beat up hands. But still frowned when he held it out to see.

 

Sure it wouldn’t fill his hands with painful splinters by _using_ it, but would _using_ it be enough? Certainly _not,_ Brainz thought. Not against someone wearing _armor,_ it just so happened that circumstance applied to him. So he needed, _more._

 

He thought about it… then the box of assorted nails put up a show for him, a mace laden with their pointy tips careening into the monster’s head, puncturing through its safety and digging into its flesh. He whispered with satisfaction.

“Oooh, yes…”

 

The nails came in different sizes and progressions of rust: they were _perfect._ Brainz was able to use the claw hammer after all. He placed the bat on the pizza box lid, using it as a workbench, the metallic **_*bangs!*_ ** resonated through the chamber, increasing in rapidity and ferocity as he progressed. He discovered though… the nails were not nearly long enough to force themselves out of the other side of the bat, it would be a problem if he didn’t have pliers… and a hell bent desire to slaughter Undyne with it.

**_*Snip!*_ **

**_*TchK!*_ **

**_*Chthpt!*_ **

One by one, he decapitated all of the nails, when he was finished: he held the weapon out _again._ He’d given it quills, while they weren’t too sharp to the touch, it’d be hard to find the same outcome with the bat being swung at you over 90 MPH. He cracked up wheezily just imagining how well this would work on that armor. It _had_ to work.

.

But it wasn’t enough now… he could _see_ it, the nails had only made the bat look _hungry._ It needed _more,_ it would puncture through armor, but _then_ what? The one who wears the armor could stand after a shotgun blast… a bat just wouldn’t do it, even covered in nails. They deserved

to hurt, they _needed_ to hurt for it all to be worth it.

 

The Boxcutter took the gracious sacrifice, as a weapon it would be most inefficient, but as Brainz broke the disposable blade into its segments, he pounded them into the woodwork of the bat in an almost spiral staircase pattern, wherever there weren’t bent, rusty nails. Again… he pictured it… tearing up the worthless thing under the metal… each swing sought to rip a part of it away.

 

He shivered… the thought of it was just too _good,_ he wanted it to happen….

 

But it _still,_ just _wasn’t_ enough! It was like a high at this point, he could never have enough, but it would feel like just a little bit more would do it. The feeling itched at him mercilessly, he was _anxious,_ what chance would he have against “IT” “THEM” if he didn’t have a proper weapon? Hell would sooner freeze over, and it showed no signs of cooling off… even as Brainz made for where he came from, something catching his eye… making him grab that hammer and those pliers again.

 

The “pathetic” sounding bike, Brainz gave it ONE more chance to redeem itself… at least _part_ of it. He crouched below, bringing the water up to his chin and paying it no mind while he worked. With the aid of a menacing pair of pliers, a loud metallic **_*SNAP!*_ ** sent the bike chain into his hand as he dissected it off of the bike. It was like a shark, flashing all of those sharp, rusted, jagged teeth. Using the nails to hold it in, while boring some of its fangs into the wood: the chain snared the head of the intentional weapon.

 

But there was something else too…

 

On his way back to his “workshop” a bundle of hopelessly tangled fishing rods poked from a moth victimized bedsheet. Where there were fishing rods… there _had_ to be hooks, sharp, dangly hooks. Brainz took the liberty of freeing those hooks from their burden and sought to give them a new life above mutilating fish.

 

The hammer pounded mercilessly on the components, until they and the bat were one and with that last hook pricking his finger as he forced it into the bat, Brainz sucked on the digit and held his creation out.

 

What used to be a tool for sportsmanship, misused with malicious intentions, became a weapon _of_ malevolence. Nails and bits of sharp metal jutted out of its violated ashwood body, hooks held out their greedy arms to steal chunks of skin. The bike chain wrapped around the end of the weapon like a crown.

“Holy shit… what did I make?”

He didn’t even know anymore, perhaps he’d gotten carried away… it just looked _gruesome._ It couldn’t be any further away from inhumane… and he finally had the lapse in judgement to see it as so. Only a _sadist_ would wield this thing, what was he thinking?-

 

He shook his head angrily and forced the feeling out.

 _What the hell WAS he thinking?! It wasn’t like he did this out of_ **_CHOICE._ ** _That bitch_ **_PUSHED_ ** _him to this. It was their fault he’d resort to such valkyrian, barbaric ways. So he didn’t blame himself ONE. BIT. If anything, he’d go for more than this “sadist’s club”._

 

Brainz needed to swing the thing,  just to get a feel… and the fun he was having ended right there, his wounded shoulder put its foot down and sent a jolt of pain through him, almost sending his toy into the water. He all but snapped out of the good mood he was in and groaned.

“Auugh! Fuck me! Forgot about this _STUPID ARM!”_

 

It wasn’t his arm’s fault he’d taken that laceration, but he was still agitated that he’d ended up with it. It was _his_ fault for it, and he knew this very well… it didn’t make him feel better though. Especially not that he wouldn’t be able to use his newfound malice very well.

He pulled on his temples and groaned exasperatedly.

“And that _stupid_ crying noise wont _stoooop…_ Eerrgghh!”

He slapped himself with his good arm, to bring his attention to the *bad* one.

“One thing at a time!”

 

He finally looked at the wound soberly, taking it into belated consideration. Oddly enough, it seemed that the bleeding had stopped or at the very least slowed down dramatically… it wasn’t constantly throbbing either, it only hurt whenever he stressed it. Maybe the sickly tasting syrup was already working… funny considering he’d taken it not half an hour ago on an empty stomach… and was over 35 years older than the recommended age for it…

 

 _Regardless…_ the thing was still a mess, sticky brown turning blood crusted all around it, while the fabric turned a dark depressing mahogany colour… oddly too, the remaining trickle of red was almost radiant, like he’d taken a transfusion from a lava lamp… he dare not look at it with the red fetish eye, lest he go blind. He felt dread… looking at it.

 

It wasn’t the injury that was _horrible,_ the laceration was clean…. _Cut_ clean that was: otherwise Brainz was terrified of the infection waiting to rot him from the inside, but it wasn’t even that. What was truly abject about it was, what was he going to do about it?

 

He didn’t have bandages, he didn’t have antiseptics… and he didn’t have _anyone_ to help him.

The crying had put him on edge already, he couldn’t hold in his despair, he moaned: clutching his hurt arm.”

“What am I going to _dooo?_ Oh _nooo… no…_ I don’t wanna die like this… I…

I don’t want to die.”

 

He began rocking back and forth where he stood, circling the same question.

“What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?”

 

Then a painful thought that made him grimace as it came out.

“Toriel, please… I-i need your help… I can’t-”

 

He purposely prodded the hurt skin to make him cringe painfully, he snarled with the pain reaction to control himself. Whatever that line was, it wasn’t _him,_ he had to take care of himself and that was final.

“ **_RNngh!_ ** Stop it! She’s not going to help you! And it’s all your fault! You-”

 

He madly turned to the injury to see the crimson globules seeping out again from his skin. It angered him more, it was all he could do.

“- you **_Fucking IDIOT!”_ **

 

He forced a shudder through himself to shake the thoughts out of his head.

 

The way he saw this, he had lost all but three choices to make in his life. One… he could sit here and bleed, falling into madness as the unknown wept at him. Two… he could ignore it, and give it the ability to worsen and fail on him… always afraid and always unsure of when it’d happen. Or three… “ _Goddamned… fucking three.”_ the option that’d struck him with anxiety from the moment he felt the cut on his arm.

 

Brainz pulled the lighter out of his pocket and stared into the flame he gave it, it was all he had.

“This…”

He swallowed painfully

“This’ll have to do.”

 

Brainz picked back through the tools he had, and pulled out a putty knife: taken for it’s flat, wide, and _heat conductive,_ nature.

 

It wasn’t supposed to be _so_ bad… it was really quite simple… all he had to do was, he needed to remind himself out loud, trying to sound calm about it.

“All you gotta do… is make it really hot until it’s red, and then put it on the cut… it’s perfectly _fine…_ it’s just a medical thing… it’s supposed to help… I can do this… I can do this… I… do I _really_ have to do this?”

 

The red began to drip down his sleeve again.

“Yes… yes I do… _OK.”_

 

Brainz tore a large piece of duct tape off, folded it up and stuck it into his mouth… then sparked his lighter up and held the flame right under the flat tool. His heart began to run faster in anticipation for it, like a child rearing up before a shot: dreading it from miles away. He funneled air through his nose and watched as the metal began to turn red, visibly distorting the air around it as it heated up.

 

His hands began to unsteady… he trembled fearfully… he needed to think of something else to hold onto his resolve.

 

It was going to hurt… and it was going to hurt _a lot._ How could he _not_ think about the agonizing pain he was about to subject himself to? This wasn’t even a new experience, it already held a place inside of him: tucked deep into the recessed of irreparable trauma, enveloped in a bad memory.

 

By all means it took him back in time, staring at the red hot metal: trembling with fear and begging (internally) for it not to happen. He hadn’t a choice in the matter too, this was _going_ to happen and he had no say in it. The only thing that didn’t match was the fact _he’d_ be the one doing this to himself, he had the task of doing it: so he had the responsibility to make it stop just as much as inflicting it on himself.

His self preservation thoughts tried to console him, speaking in tranquil riddles and running the situation through and back.

“You’re not tied to a chair, and you’re not doing this to torture yourself. This is going to _help_ you. You’re in control, it’s OK. You will know when it’s coming and how long, just count two mississippis and then it’s gone forever! It won't come back.”

 

The metal slab was finished… he held it almost mesmerized by the glowing metal, he wanted it to wait… but too long and he’d waste more of his precious lighter fluid… so he _couldn’t._ He brought it close to his arm… feeling the heat radiating off of it and dreading it so much more. He took a deep series of breaths through his nose (too stressed to worry about the smell)... and pressed the burning hot metal to his arm.

 [Make it stop.](https://youtu.be/LphsY18BS24)

“ **_NrGNNNNGHHGHHGH!!!”_ **

 

He bit down on the tape as hard as he could, the sound of steaming, singing flesh screamed into his ears, fighting with the guttural scream that tried to escape from him: being held by his sealed mouth. His feet curled as tight as they could inside of his boots, his legs twisted and constricted themselves: shifting against each other erratically.

 

Above all the pain and reminiscent torment, he shouted out loud with his teeth chomping into the adhesive, straining his very soul to push it out for resolve.

**_“ONE… MISS-ISs-IPPI!”_ **

 

He convulsed violently, goosebumps raced through his entire body and back, Brainz began to crouch: clenching everything he could as tightly as it could go.

 

**_“T-TWOOO!! M-Muh-ISS-IS-IPPI!!!”_ **

 

It was done! He’d made it to the end! He express fired the thought into his mind to end it _immediately…_ but his arm wouldn’t move.

 

Brainz had put himself in this misery for _quite enough,_ it was time to take it off.

The pain was _more_ than unbearable and **_gratuitous,_ ** he needed to **_take, it OFF._ **

 

But his arm _REFUSED_ to move, panic began to well up as did an inexplicable null sensation on his arm, it felt like someone else was holding it to his arm… that he couldn’t stop it. Brainz had completely relapsed into his past, the unrelenting panic and desperation rushed him.

 

He screamed through the tape, his teeth almost meeting each other from slicing through the material, violently convulsing and quaking: struggling to free himself from the memory. He was trapped, the crying evolved into smug laughter, and the killer was smiling.

 

**“STOP IT!”**

 

Brainz whipped the tool away with an excruciating shout, it fell into the water and **_*hissed!*_ ** at him as steam rose from its place. Brainz hugged himself and fell against the cavern wall, whimpering, back in the company of the soft weeping noise.

 

He wouldn’t open his eyes, out of fear of what he’d see: for minutes, he needed to have this one sureness that it was over, it didn’t _feel_ over as his arm pumped blistering angry hornets through his veins with each heated throb. But he soon had to face it all, and he did: back to his bleak existence: the present and nothing else. The soggy lump of tape was spat out, leaving sticky residues reaching up to his gums, just a drop in the bucket for what ailed him.

 

A forced, silent laugh wheezed out from him: signaling his return to obligated normalcy… back to his last minute plan.

 

Brainz turned to the pain and blew frantically on the spot to cool it down, unsure if the billows emitting from it were steam or smoke from his scorched flesh. No desire to dip it into the filthy water.

“Ooh.. Ooah.. Ahh… Ow.. oww… Owww-”

His whole body trembled, and he began to feel cold pines poking at his skin all over: but he acknowledged the shock and fought it back with the will to stay conscious.  Taking effort not to panic over what color the skin was turning. He just pushed all of it down into his gut, and focused on breathing, exhaling with a relieved feel.

“Ph _yooooh…_ that’s-”

Another look at the burn and a hard swallow.

“- yeah, that’s enough of that. That _hurt.”_

 

It was going to hurt for quite a while, adding stiffness and holding harrowing recurrence to its presence, but this storm wasn’t without its calm: the reprieve and silver lining. Despite the overexposure, what he’d set to accomplish seemed to had worked. The only presence of red was the first degree burns surrounding the blackened skin.

 

He flexed his arm some, only slightly wincing at the dull pain it gave: partially numb but definitely bearable. It could’ve been the adrenaline pumping from the shock that gave him this, but he felt better.

 

Who was he kidding? He’d gone through enough of the stimulant fit for five men in three lifetimes.

 

Temporary or permanent contentedness aside… it was time to go.  He’d nothing left to do but sit here waiting for some foul creature to find him, or go insane from the crying noise: which seemed to grow louder to him… he didn’t care to hear it anymore.

 

Brainz gathered his things, creating a makeshift holster for his flamethrower with duct tape. He also had the opportunity of some pocket space realized, and took the liberty of grabbing a pair of screwdrivers and the carpenter’s knife to fit snugly into it. The duct tape was almost used up, and he decided to appoint the last of it to patching some of the holes and tears in his clothing.

 

When he was finally finished, the cardboard ring was disposed of: he grabbed his sadist bat and waded towards the exit.

 

* * *

 

 

With a large step up; Brainz had climbed out of the trash pit, and found himself standing before a stone corridor: dripping wet and staring uncertain darkness in the eyes. He took it one step at a time, starting by giving himself some relief, even sounding astonished.

“Dry land, thank _god!”_

 

He tried to shake out his legs, convincing the soaked jeans to let out the majority of the foul smelling water, letting the source of it keep as much of the rancid liquid to itself as he could give.

 

It wasn’t much above futile for creature comforts, not without a hot shower and pure alcohol maybe. But Brainz stopped before coming to this realization, he would’ve been content with waiting for the last drop to leave him… but a new development took his attention.

 

He was all but sure the weeping noise had grown with his progress down this path, it sounded closer as if it were just down the way. Once again, he stopped what he was doing and called out to it and once again he was left without a response nor pause in the harrowing noise. But this time, he couldn’t ignore it anymore… he _had_ to investigate because this _needed_ to stop.

 

Brainz tried to proceed with high precaution, taking heed not to emit noise: but the sound of squishing socks and boots undermined it, not to mention inflict physical discomfort to go with the psychological discomfort. But eventually, he’d segregated himself as the only offensive smelling thing in the area: entering a new chamber as the dump vanished from behind.

 

A large room, bleak and soulless: a pond of odorless water taking the center.  

 

The sniffling noise had become so prominent that it was all he could hear, it wasn’t deafeningly loud but it just _took_ him from the world: the inexplicable breeze through the stagnant air and the unpleasant squishy footsteps were silent.

“Hello? Is there anybody there?”

His voice called out into the emptiness, and the emptiness took it without a single echo or reverberation. It felt anxious,  the room pooled with the sounds of despair, refusing to absorb them: but his request was swallowed by those judgemental apathetic walls of soil and stone.

* * *

 

“ _Hey.”_

  
He spoke again, but for himself. The obligation delivered with cool headed peculiarity that came when something felt familiar.

“ _Hey…”_

Something occurred to him, a belated feeling of absence that detracted him from the world: an absence of cleanliness that pulled him into his own stomach, it consumed the distance he had from himself… his body felt smaller… closer to him. He began to feel the squalid presence encasing it, encasing _him._ It was only after departing from a place where he was submerged in absolute filth… that he felt _dirty._

 

He began to retch and shake: he knew that it had completely taken him, not an inch of him was saved, not one point of purity or redemption from it all. His hands: the only medium to dare cleanse him, he looked down at them.

 

[RED HANDS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yaWGzIJs38)

 

His hands were nothing but red, and red was nothing they’d be, it trickled and dropped off of them: it ran down his arms and stained his clothes… he couldn’t clean himself, his hands would only stain what they desecrated.

 

The bat fell from his bloodied grip, and lay suspended in the air below as if it’d mattered little once it left him. Brainz stared down at his hands as they ran with blood, _soaked_ not a speck was saved from him, they could _never_ stop, they would never dry out and would never cease to taint the world as the globules of life wasted away on the ground.

“Oh no..”

He had only a insouciant denial for what he was witnessing, but the world continued to weep, never to stop in the act of what he’d done.

“ _Oh… no…”_

He tried even in vain to wipe the red off of his hands, _anything_ to free them, it was smeared, it was painted all over his clothes… only worsening it while his hands remained the same, unaffected and bleeding. It spattered up to his face, his shirt had become a rorschach of bloodied fingerprints and desperate palm smears.

“Oh… no-”

It continued to worsen: the more he desecrated himself: the crying grew into a plaintive wail that rang through his ears and stabbed at his eardrums. Brainz’s legs toppled from below him, sending him down to his knees: they collided with a hard surface, blunt retaliation shot through his spine.

“ _No… oh no.”_

 

Suddenly, the bat clattered to the ground: it forced him to realize the change as the sound of hard metal rang against the tiled floor. He looked up from his reddened hands, and his worst fears were realized. _Brainz wasn’t lost anymore… he wasn’t even THERE anymore._ This wasn’t a grassy cavern, with walls of stone and a pond of clear water.

 

It was a kitchen, covered in linoleum tiles and walls of paintings and family portraits, and a pool of blood spreading in the middle… just in front of where Brainz knelt.

_There was nothing he could do. They were dead, he could tell by the empty accusing stare in their eyes._

 

A dripping red sawed off, covered in blood and brain lay just outside of his grip, still warm with fleeting life.

“Oh _noo.”_

There was no stopping it, he was out in the open: the portraits they stared at him, they knew his weak spots and they closed in for the kill, the victims losing their resemblance from the chunks of their faces hanging off, they blamed him.

 

He persisted in his attempt to deny it all, but he couldn’t disprove reality. He could feel it trickling from his bloodsoaked face, the bits of gray matter sticking to his skin, the _smell_ of iron and death lingering in the air, and the crying. The damned crying.

 

The wailing had grown so large, it couldn’t stay as one and fractured into the rest of them all. Sirens screaming just beyond the walls, wheels screaming to a stop… and the original of the moans and groans, the sobbing: finding a place behind him… a solid manifestation to answer for it all. He _couldn’t_ deny it any further, but he sure as hell could refuse to face it.

 

The harming sound of a grizzling youth.

 

_“MOMMY, DADDY… PLEASE HELP ME, I’M SCARED.”_

“ _Noooo…”_

“IT’S ALL JUST A BAD DREAM, I WANT TO WAKE UP.”

“ _Please God no..”_

**“I’m so… A L O N E.”**

 

He clenched his eyes shut and covered his ears, rocking back and forth as it all closed in on him, the weight of the burden becoming claustrophobic, _crushing_ his soul. Somewhere, someone called out into the madness.

**_“ᵢₜ'ₛ ₐₗₗ ⱼᵤₛₜ ₐ BₐD Dᵣₑₑₘ, yₒᵤ'ᵣₑ gₒᵢₙg ₜₒ bₑ ALRIGHT, WAKE UP: PLEASE!!”._ **

 

* * *

 

His eyes shot open, wide and rabid, **desperate.** They could see the pond just beyond while he couldn’t, Brainz uncupped his ears and frantically crawled for the waters using his soaking red hands, thrashing through the epicenter with only the will to make it stop.

 

He reached the brink of it as the screaming careened at him from behind and plunged his culpable hands into the icy waters, the shockwave partially soaking him, drenching his face with liquid ice.

 

It all stopped.

 

He was back sitting in the cavernous room, laying down before the pond and dripping with cold water: the cold reaching up to his elbows. He finally turned to look behind him, terrified to see… the bat he had dropped on the ground standing in front of the corridor to head back to the landfill.

_He was back._

 

His breathing was heavier than it had even been, and it was all he could hear… the crying was unable to be heard. While his return to the world continued, he slowly turned his head back: the final piece being his hands and they had once stirred under the water. He gazed beyond the veil of the pond, and waited motionlessly as the ripples began to subside.

 

Slowly, uncertainty: did the form below them come together. He saw **_red,_ ** and froze, helpless to see what lay under the water. Two red splotches glared up at him, their surrounding, a sickly white backdrop. But the terror was derailed as, what he was looking at… it wasn’t his hands: they were as pale as he was, _but whatever was in the water didn't belong to him._ And as he stared dumbfoundedly, the figure took a shape. He realized: _it was a face, staring right up at him, the red splotches were the eyes._

 

The form was destroyed as Brainz threw his arms out of the water and fled backwards, falling onto his tailbone, giving off a terrified yell: water cascaded all around the room. He scrambled backwards, kicking his legs to push himself further and further away from the water, until his frantically searching hand felt the duct tape handle of his weapon. He swiped it immediately, jumped to his feet with a second wind forged in fury and charged to the pond.

Water exploded out of the hole as the bat struck it over and over, the panicked man grunting indecipherable cries: spraying him with an even coating of ice cold mist. Only after effectively drenching himself again did he open his eyes and risk staring down the pond just to discover: **there was nobody there.**

 

“ **_NO! NO!... NO! You CAN’T do this shit to me!! I’m not going to LET YOU!”_ **

Frustrated, scared and angry: Brainz began roaring furiously: spinning around swinging his weapon madly, only himself to witness this display.

**_“I’m NOT CRAZY!! I SAW YOU!!! Come out and fucking FIGHT ME!!”_ **

He hollered grunts and words of war, cries of frustration and dread.

“ **_Little ghost BITCH!!! Spooky MOTHA-FUCKA!?”_ **

 

Pushed beyond reason, pushed beyond his capacity to tolerate it anymore, Brainz would remain screaming to himself, screaming for his enemies to confront him: as he couldn’t confront _them._

 

[But Nobody Came...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzM2oWtTAws)

 

 

 


	15. Unorthodox Execution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Jill went up a hill  
> To fetch a Pailᵤᵣₙ'ₛ
> 
>  
> 
> N̸̘͕̝͕̕Ë̷͖̻̻́̂̚V̴͖̈́͒E̵̟͑̈̋R̸̬̲̭̱̆̆̓͋͠M̸̧̭͚̻̆͛̆Ö̷̥̤̖̽̈́͌͂Ṛ̵͈̞͇̒̽̂͑̂ͅḘ̵̉͘.
> 
> ᵂʰᵃᵗ ⁱˢ ᵗʰⁱˢ?
> 
> A puzzle, falling together?
> 
>  
> 
> Or is it all ғ ᴀ ʟ ʟ ɪ ɴ ɢ ᴀ ᴘ ᴀ ʀ ᴛ
> 
> ₐₗₗ ₜₕₐₜ wₑ ₛₑₑ ₒᵣ ₛₑₑₘ,  
> ᵢₛ bᵤₜ  
> ₐ Dᵣₑₐₘ  
> Wᵢₜₕᵢₙ  
> ₐ Dᵣₑₐₘ,
> 
> N̸E̴V̸E̸R̶M̴O̵R̸E̸
> 
> Slant your eyes forward,  
> Revenge.  
> Hatred.
> 
>  
> 
> ＤＥＮＩＡＬ  
> ＡＮＧＥＲ  
> ＢＡＲＧＡＩＮＩＮＧ  
> ＤＥＰＲＥＳＳＩＯＮ
> 
>  
> 
> Only four stages in,  
> 死 死 死 死  
> ᴰᴱᴬᵀᴴ ᴰᴱᴬᵀᴴ ᴰᴱᴬᵀᴴ ᴰᴱᴬᵀᴴ
> 
> NEVERMORE

“So this is it, huh?.”

The police lieutenant stood basking in the harsh glow of fluorescent lanterns, behind him the light of a morning sun missed reaching in, impeded by the claustrophobic entrance.

 

Prior to stepping in here, they’d rose from their cots, took in a tasteless breakfast downing it with instant coffee that tasted like jet fuel, and trekked their way up the mountain at the eve of six.

 

“Yhep, the “most mysterious” spot in the world right now. Pretty flowers, don’tcha think?”

Pailurn leant against the edge of the cave mouth, an unburdened face: watching Mordegrid appear to be _gripped_ by the sight, cordoned off by luminescent chalk lines and defeated police tape.

 

Mordegrid seemed to have learned to live and let live with the captain’s attitude for the most part, answering the sarcastic question without much thought, still enveloped by the sight.

“Yeaaah… I especially like the **blood stains** all over them…-

 

Of all the things in the cramped room, the inexplicable patch of perfectly maintained yellow flowers smack in the middle of the room: did not draw all the attention, but the bright streaks of crimson splattered all over them did.

 

Mordegrid turned to Pailurn with his leg resisting the urge to step into the weird garden.

“(Can I) Get a closer look?”

 

Pailurn nodded nonchalantly, gesturing his arm out.

“Erhm Be my guest, just be careful, y’know?”

 

Mordegrid took the invitation and knelt down into the flowers for a closer look, there wasn’t a trace of soil or dirt, it was as if they had sprouted from the stone itself. But again, he wasn’t concerned with that: he was still fixated on the drops of blood glistening on the petals.

 

Prior to him waking up today, someone had brought some of his personal and professional belongings to his spot: sitting on top of a folded set of surplus army fatigues, a clean white shirt with a green coat and pants. He was more than willing to take them in addition to the commodity of a lukewarm shower.

 

Mordegrid removed a sampling vial from one of the numerous coat pockets and went for one of the droplets. (With gloves of course).

 

Pailurn frowned a bit,repeating himself at the gesture of touching the stuff.

“Careful.”

 

Mordegrid turned just to quell the unneeded concern.

“Relax, I minored in forensics: I’ve got steady hands.”

 

Pailurn let the man continue with his work, being it was just a miniscule sample he sought: plenty more of the stuff to go around. But when Mordegrid collected a sufficient amount, he held the partially full vial to his face and squinted at it.

“ _Hmmmh…”_

 

It scored a curious head tilt from Pailurn.

“What’s up?”

 

Mordegrid continued to gaze closely at the vial… he sounded uncertain, he looked unsure as well: shaking his head.

“Ever notice something about this when you came here?”

 

Pailurn stepped closer and crouched down to get a better look.

“What-chu mean?”

 

The police lieutenant moved the vial closer for Pailurn to get a look at, he slowly swished it around and asked a question, sounding suspicious.

“What is this stuff?”

 

Pailurn furrowed his brow some, confused.

“Eehh… you being serious with me now?”

 

Mordegrid shook the vial, still looking at the source of the blood, sounding as serious as can be.

“Mhm… deadly serious.”

 

Pailurn rolled his eyes and answered, still not catching onto what Mordegrid was doing.

“Oookaay? Is blood… all over the place when he jumped into it.”

 

Mordegrid nodded, and put some rhetorical emphasis for another question.

“Mmhm? It’s blood is it?”

 

The captain turned to one of the escorts standing in the entryway for an unspoken answer, they merely shrugged at him unknowingly. He nodded himself, pulling some awkward holds on his words, unsure what Mordegrid was trying to accomplish here.

“Yeeah… it is… same stuff that’s dripped all over the place-”

He turned and pointed at the portal outside, the guard looked down between his feet at the brown stain in the earth.

“- plenty more of it outside too… all over the ground there, litty-bit of splatter on the walls.”

 

He made his way back to Mordegrid with the specific sample of blood.

“- buh-what are you getting at?”

 

Mordegrid relieved more of the “red dew” from strained petals and held up a half filled vial.

“What I’m _getting_ at is: look at it… still got fluidity, still glossy and red.”

 

Pailurn went with him, nodding vacantly.

“Okay?”

 

Mordegrid turned to the captain and brandished the vial further, gesturing at it with his free hand.

“But how _old_ is this? What’s the date right now? And then… when did it end up here?”

 

Pailurn pulled up one of his sleeves and gazed into his luminescent wristwatch, relaying all the green segmented numbers.

“It’s.. ahh. **bout five after six…** we’re on the seventeenth. A _nn.._ uhm…”

He scratched at the prickly hair stubs on his pronounced chin.

“-said he vanished here around two in the mornin: on the fourteenth, bout three days ago or so, give us four hours.”

 

It was exactly the answer Mordegrid knew he’d hear, but didn’t _want_ to, it wasn’t going to add up: but he still continued with it.

“Alright… So that would mean that this would be **_three days old,_ ** more so **_Seventy-Six_ ** hours. _Seventy-Six_ hours outside a body… _Seventy-Six_ hours sitting in here, cold and exposed to oxygen.”

Mordegrid jumped focus and directed Pailurn to the cave entrance.

 

“Now take a look at _that-_ excuse me, beg pardon you move aside a bit?”

He was talking to the escort who’d slouched against the entrance alongside Pailurn, they’d been standing in front of another marked section of bright chalk sitting on the ground just outside. Pailurn nodded at the man and they moved aside, bringing the sought area into view. Mordgrid thanked him and continued.

“Now look at _that-.”_

A brown stain spattered onto the hard surface, it was one of many that left a trail leading up to the cave, all differing in size showing erratic drips: but all marked with the brightly coloured chalk.

“- _that,_ is three day old blood. I don’t even need to bring out an UV light to tell you that. There’s splatter, and it suggests a frightening rate of hemorrhaging, two… maybe _three_ ballistic wounds. But look at it, crusty… _brown,_ it looks like the rock is beginning to rust-”

 

Then back to the red vial, armed with a rhetorical question for inquiry.

“-so what the hell is _this_ then?”

 

He’d made the coincidence quite obvious, soo obvious that the displaced soldier made the connection and gave his confirmed opinion on it, looking at the two variations of “blood” with widening eyes.

“Whoa… that’s weird, sir."

 

Pailurn glanced at him for a moment and back to Mordegrid, nodding vacantly.

“That **_is_ ** weird…  I wasn’t even _thinkin_ of it like that, but this is just… you got anything to explain this?”

 

Mordegrid agitated the red again close to his face, then placed an intuitive hand over his mouth: looking up at the stalactites above. He made some hums and “hmms” then surveyed the floor around… in the end: he shook his head slowly… relaying his stumped thoughts.

“Euhhn… As of right now? **Nothing…”**

 

Pailurn pushed his tongue around his cheek and looked around, nodding with understanding disappointment, Mordegrid didn’t take notice, but still gave what he knew to alleviate it.

“I’ve never even _seen_ something like this before, something-”

Mordegrid wafted the air from the vial to his nose, wincing some at the strong smell of iron.

“- *phew* _really_ resembling human blood, I mean it’s completely identical… but aside from that… this stuff goes against the basics of even being _liquid…_ but **_granted…_ ** granted it _is_ pretty drafty in here… humidity too, I mean it _feels_ like I’m walking into a cold fog in here, it’d slow down any evaporation, maybe… but this long? And we’d _still_ see some congealing, it’s far too cold in here.

 

Mordegrid held one of his cheeks and slowly shook his head, puzzled and almost astonished.

“God… I really don’t know! This is the most bizarre thing I've ever _seen,_ even out of _him!”_

 

He massaged his head as he tried earnestly to make some sense of it, but mostly threw out some theories hoping one of them could help.

“The fact that it _is_ him, makes this all the much more elusive, this had to have been done intentionally if it was… but that would stick out from what he did before this… I just… but what part of this was him? This “blood”?  Or this freaking cave? Did he lead us here on _purpose?”_

 

He went up to the flowers again, gently massaging one of the vibrant petals, going into a small tangent for himself: taking more attention to the “blood”.

“But why? And _how?_ Where does this go into play? Where’s the _key_ to all this? Is there something in this blood? Knowing him, god knows what he sticks into himself, guy’s a freaking blast pit for substances. OR or-or, or is this some throw at botany? Some unheard of reaction between these “flowers” if they’re even natural… I just…”

 

Mordegrid suddenly abandoned his proposal, with his frustration reaching the cut off for quickly made theories.

“- I don’t _know!”_

 

His arms fell against his sides, defeated: Mordegrid stood in thought, letting it all set in. But what Pailurn took out of all this was a question regarding the flowers and he chimed in bluntly.

“I think those are buttercups.”

 

The police lieutenant derailed from his frustration and  turned to him, abruptly taken out of his focus, slightly agitated.

“b’What?”

 

Pailurn cleared his throat and pointed at the family of yellow flowers that possessed the abnormal red fluid.

“You said you don’t know if those’re real or not, they are. They’re called buttercups, I can tell by the petal shapes and such-”

 

Mordegrid only looked at him with a slightly perturbed face, leading Pailurn to keep giving information that probably wasn’t wanted, going off into his own rambles.

“-they’re uhhm…  those aree _poisonous_ to people and animals, they mess with your blood and stuff, and can cut off the oxygen to your brain so err… yeah I dunno.”

 

The lieutenant lightened his face some and released the petal, looking back at Pailurn with a respectful look of acceptance and a nod.

“Huh… well then, that crosses off _one_ thing I suppose.”

He straightened himself out, stood up and let his arms slap down to his sides, clicking his tongue once.

“- _welp…_ I guess we’ll keep that in mind when we take this in.”

 

Another soldier had entered the room, muttering something to the captain: then leaving when Pailurn gave a nod, he hadn’t ignored Mordegrid completely though and turned right back to him.

“Yeah?”

 

Mordegrid repeated him and brushed his pants off.

“Yeah, we’ll take this whole colony to a lab: get a good batch of this stuff, just to see what we’re lookin at here.”

 

Pailurn’s eyes opened some, a light frown on his face.

“Wait… you mean, you want to pull out all of the flowers?”

 

Mordegrid stood up slowly, squinting at Pailurn, slightly perturbed at the question.

“Yeeah? Gotta bring them to forensics,  find out what this is. I doubt you brought a whole lab with you, but there’s a facility not too far from here, I’ll call the guys and get em to come and-”

 

He must’ve said something wrong, Because Pailurn squinted, pressing on his lips.

“Look, hate to put a spider on your cake there but, that’s not happenin.”

 

Now _Mordegrid_ was squinting, he carefully removed his gloves and pushed them into a disposal bag: his attention aimed at Pailurn: slightly derailed and upset at the restriction.

“What? **_Why_ ** _?”_

 

Pailurn scratched at his cheek and stepped up to Mordegrid and the flowers.

“Nothin’s suppos’t to leave the place, can’t take it outside of the exclusion zone, (re)member? If anything, should probably keep it in here, and for your “guys” you’re not even s’posed to be here, n’body can know that.”

 

Mordegrid groaned frustratingly at the reason and realization that came with it, keeping his upset tone with another subjection against the restriction.

“Ye- but. But you can’t-  this is crucial evidence! This may be the _only_ lead we have! You _gotta_ make an exception to this or-Or the trail might go cold and this'll _actually_ be for nothing!”

 

Pailurn was unamused by the defiance he was receiving, he only asked passively for a break in it.

“Now lieutenant…”

 

It only drove Mordegrid to higher reaching agitation: a blatant attempt for his determination, someone bigger than him trying to push him down, bolstered by their elevated standing: simply aggegious. He rebutted loudly, almost pushing some of the blood from the brink of its containment and onto himself: as he moved his arms with his words.

 

“No! There’s no sensical reason to this! We **_need_ ** to do this! This is a **_necessary_ ** thing! We _have_ to get this to the lab! This secrecy shit shouldn’t even **_be here_ ** much less if you’re not going to let anyone analyze this. What you’re doing in the end is just delaying any progress from being made! Why hinder everyone _so_ badly?”

 

Pailurn had waited for him to finish with that particular gripe, and reinstated his desire to make it stop, he sighed but spoke with buried aggression.

**“That’s enough.”**

 

But evidently, Mordegrid _hadn’t_ had enough and the army captain was overlooked _again,_ if this fact was sufficiently realized, Mordegrid may not have done it: interrupting someone who outranked you couldn’t be good news. But he let his anger hide this fact, and began making assumptive demeaning points at Pailurn.

“You roll in here, shoehorn out _all_ of my men: keep the world in the dark about it, shun the _*proper*_ methods out: and you’re still not searching for him! I saw everyone, doesn’t seem like _anyone’s_ even trying!”

 

A disgusted look came across Mordegrid’s face, he snorted defiantly and threw out a remark.

“-Whose side are you guys on anyway? It’s like you _want_ him to get away.”

 

Outside of the damp chamber, a small amount of curious patrolmen and soldiers stopped by on their rounds: attracted by the sound of yelling and heated discourse. They’d be in for a show.

 

“ **_That’s *ENOUGH*”_ **

Suddenly, the cave boomed with the sound of Pailurn’s powerful voice, the new onlookers widened their eyes and dispersed with easy prejudice, they were all too familiar with this voice, especially when it sounded mad, they didn't want to be part of it."

 

Mordegrid stuttered to a stop, staggered by the authoritative energy in the words, Pailurn stood near and looked down at the man, redundantly asserting more superiority. The grab for attention was alone in how loud it was, Pailurn would reprise a hushed voice: riddled with aggravation and hostility.  

“You can complain and bellyache all you want over how _dreadfully_ unfair I’m being-”

He parodied his voice and forced it up an octave.

“- _so so_ **_so_ ** bad that I’m letting ya stay up here, and getting you clothes that don’t _reek,_ and not reporting you. _Oh yeah,_ **_so_ ** very bad. _Just_ *Horrible* that I’m (al)llowing you to keep on your little personal case, because let’s be honest here: why else would you burden yourself to come to a shithole like this?”

 

Pailurn waited for a moment, an ample chance for the guilt to sink in and leave him facing a receding person. When he could see the look in Mordegrid’s eyes, he nodded condescendingly, and went back to a serious rant.

“Yeah… so you can bitch and moan all you want like a little kid, ignoring the fact that I _told_ you yesterday that I’m not the one to bastardize, that I’m just following _my_ orders.”

 

He bent over some, just to intrude on Mordegrid’s space, making the whole room feel more claustrophobic. His hand prodded at Mordegrid’s face, pushing just before his eyes with every bout of high emphasis.

“But what I _won’t_ have, and you listen here **_GOOD:_ ** Accuse me, and my men of **_treason?_ ** Well that just hits where the sun don’t shine: and frankly I don’t have much of my _kindness_ in there, I think that you should take a **_GOOD_ ** look at yourself before you call us traitors… I don’t **_HAVE_ ** to let you stay, in fact… I don’t **_HAVE_ ** to refrain from smacking the disrespect right outta ya… but mind you, I’ll let you have this one as a mistake, being you’re just a far ways from home, and it'd suck for me to have to explain why I had to kick your ass back to New York."

 

Pailurn reeled in most of his outward hostility and crept back to a sly tone, shifting his eyes at Mordegrid.

“But mind you now…-”

 

He made a jarring move and snatched the vial out of Mordegrid’s meek hands. Mordegrid recoiled some, intimidated to say the least.

“- this little bottle of *blood’ll be at the **_bottom_ ** of things for you to complain about, you disrespect me or my beloved company one more time.”

 

The group of intrigued soldiers who actually belonged gere were evidently noticed by Pailurn, being he gestured his free arm to them when mentioning his company. The few of them had a mix of smug faces or concerned looks. Pailurn sought to finish his diabolical threat, with a low grunt: he was so close to the man’s face, that the smell of chewing tobacco burned Mordegrid’s nose hairs.

“Y’ **_GOT-IT?_ ** “Officer”?”

 

Pailurn backed away but retained his piercing stare and the vial he relinquished from Mordegrid, he was prepared to wait in the stunned silence that he earned.

 

Mordegrid remained deathly still, reluctant to look at the Captain: let alone to say anything else, the rampant thoughts caused his mind to stall. The more time in silence he experienced, the less likely the chance that Pailurn was pulling his leg again: supported by the apathetic face he was getting.

It was torture, like so many other struggles prior to this point: he couldn’t help but feel the peculiar sensation pulling at him, that regardless of what he could do or try: it wasn’t going to solve anything. Never to admit defeat, but much less so to even try anything else… he was _stuck_ again. **Helplessness,** trapped between the superiority of the army and his own refusal to give up.

 

But if anything, Mordegrid was still a professional, one who’d made an immature mistake of course: but still professional enough to be humbled. He exhaled deep breath through his nose and calmly spoke, facing the captain.

“I do sir… my apologies for the trouble: I let my temper get ahead of myself.”

 

The damp air riddled his skin with goosebumps, the golden sun peered into the small crevice, flashing its presence into his eyes, he continued: sounding defeated.

“I…understand now, I won’t disrespect you or your men again: you’re all just doing your jobs, your duty to the country… _probably doing it better than I am…”_

 

He was all torn up inside, mentally cacophonous, he couldn’t decide how to feel about all that was occuring. It was too conflicted, every feeling had a polar opposite to counter it. A wave of frustration for the people who impeded you, quelled by the irrefutable fact that they simply had more of a right to be here than you. A feeling of outrage that your methods are to be discarded, pulled back by the nauseating thought that these people are _right._ There was nothing you could do about it, except go with it.

 

Yet, he had an overwhelming sense of deja vu, the premise of this seemed oddly familiar…

 

“-But alright… you have my word, If we don’t agree on something, I’ll assume you have a damn good reason, you don’t tell me how to do _my_ job, I shouldn’t yours. No more unprofessionalism.”

Mordegrid went to put the tension away by outstretching his arm, not for the coveted blood but for a handshake: the universal sign for consentment and understanding.

 

Pailurn took a moment, initially seeing the gesture as a grab for the snatched vial, but matching the gesture with the humbleness and attitude diffusion, he seemed complacent and shook Mordegrid’s hand warmly, returning to the friendly voice.

“Well, alright then, good to see.”

 

The army captain sensed the disappointment still lingering in the air and oddly enough, despite asserting his dominance: he wasn’t satisfied seeing this, everything he’d say would be redundant for his own gain. He sighed and rested his hands into his pockets. The light from outside glistened off of the silver desert eagle just below his hands, almost catching Mordegrid in the eyes.

“You were concerned about searching for him, right?”

 

Mordegrid squinted away from the light and took the question with confusion, he’d been derailed from it and couldn’t remember immediately.

“Eh? What?”

 

Pailurn turned around to face the world outside, taking some steps to get a better view, Mordegrid had to follow just to hear him outside of the cavernous acoustics. Pailurn looked down at it all and continued.

“About the fact we don’t have search teams actively goin out for Brainz… you were worried about that.”

 

It came to him, Mordegrid took it with a nonchalant,

“Oh… yeah… am I allowed to know the reason for _that?”_

 

Pailurn was quick and candid.

“Nope.”

 

Mordegrid was about to give another disappointed response, but Pailurn started talking again.

 

“But you’re also not allowed to be up here… so that don’t mean much… I figure I owe it to you that much-.”

He turned his head away.

“Am I right?”

 

Mordegrid was still humble, not willing to displease the man by even agreeing. He chuckled through his nose and half smiled.

“It’s alright sir, it’s nothing.”

 

Pailurn turned all the way around to face him, with a widened expression, candidly skeptical.

“Ohhh no, I think we both know, that’s a lie. This is _far_ from nothing to ya, idn’t it?”

 

Mordegrid raised a brow, half confused and partially suspicious, he asked for a further elaboration.

“What are you talking about?”

 

Pailurn crossed his arms and gave a look that was as smug as it was attempting to be understanding and inoffensive. He began expatiating random information.

“I told you I knew it was personal... Almost been what… _ten_ years? Anniversary is coming up in May, right?”

 

Mordegrids eyes darted around for comprehension, then widened tremendously with his face when he made the connection, it hit him that Pailurn knew exactly what he was talking about, he _knew._ Mordegrid felt compelled to give it context, struck with awe.

“May… Twenty-ninth… two thousand and-...”

 

He broke out of the stupefied awe and turned to Pailurn almost demanding the answer.

“How do you know that?”

 

Pailurn nodded with intent to respect, or to quell any _disrespect,_ holding up his calloused hand, palm out.

“Don’t mean to rustle you any- but _well…_ I kind of searched you up in the government database."

 

Mordegrid could hardly believe what he was hearing, his mouth hanging agape again while he stood stockstill. The paranoid feeling his private life had been read like a book. Pailurn would make it more believable, seeing as he kept talking. He began to sound thoroughly impressed.

“I really didn’t want to go any more into your file than I had to, but _goddamn…_ I see why you were so… hell bent on it… forgive me for doin so but-.”

 

Mordegrid felt the soreness coming back to him, reminiscing about it. Pailurn kept going.  


Pailurn had access to his records, evidently the level of security reaching up to the FBI yielded to army intelligence. But that aside… it was surreal to hear someone else retelling the story: from the statistical side too. The collection of numbers and days told a grim tale.

 

* * *

 

 

Mordegrid had made his way into the Criminal Investigation Unit on a **(5/22/06)** shadowing under one   **(PD. Cecelia Uvetzal)** of the Amherst Police Department. One of their oldest and most experienced detectives, 25 years given to her country. From stolen cars and stolen people, Untimely demises she ultimately decided “Accident” or “Murder”  she’d seen it all. Yet it never affected her, sweet and courteous to everyone she knew: acting like a sister to everyone in her office. There was no better a person to shadow… Mordegrid would get a week with her...

 

Memorial day meant nothing for coming in, but on **(5/29/06)** Cecilia did not show up to work on the second monday Mordegrid would have with her. She’d failed to answer her messages, especially from her anxious student. Paranoid feelings welling up, a younger Mordegrid pulled up to her estate **([REDACTED] Maple Road)** , and while arguably breaking and entering the home: Mordegrid would embark on his first case by **Declaring Cecilia Uvetzal dead on May 29th 2006, 2:12 PM.**

 

He provided a mountainous amount of pictures, plenty of them useless from how much he’d trembled when taking them: but there were plenty more. All showing the body of his preceptor sprawled out onto the floor, Brains dripping down the drywall. She’d been fed buckshot, shown by the red shell laying on the floor, the weapon would never be recovered. But as overwhelming the scene was, the last of his photographs took the attention. Something ugly had had been drawn onto the wall: a map of things to come done in red.

 

**_“BRAINZ, WASN’T HERE.”_ **

 

* * *

  


“- s’creepy in an ironic way, find out she was _on_ his case… and she became _in_ his case… at least the pictures.”

 

They sat on the edge of ground, looking into the below and beyond, a brisk breeze ran through: carrying the cold nature of the world.  Mordegrid just looked out into the graying sky awaiting for a rising sun, a troubled look never leaving or changing on his face. A good comparison: rigid and bitter, like the scar this all left on him.

 

Pailurn was almost finished with the facts, and there'd certainly be an opinion about them after he was done. He sounded so much less avid about it, as he thought more of how it affected his new friend, rather than everything else. This hadn’t occurred when he read the long thing, it didn’t even scratch at anything awry… but seeing the look on Mordegrid’s face, the firsthand effects of it… he felt different.

So he stopped sounding so smug, and tried to be fair.  Like he understood what it felt like, or at least _wanted_ to: the intention was there for Mordegrid to appreciate. He whispered a subtely astonished realization.

“But _man…”_

 

He raised his voice to normal, but kept the astonishment: turning to Mordegrid as he shook his head.

“-you're a lieutenant  _and_ a detective... and your first case- **your first** ** _week…_** you got Brainz....that’s… “ungodly harsh” is the best I can do for an understatement… and y’know: I’m really only thinkin about it now: seeing it in your face how it uh… feels for you…”

 

He got Mordegrid to look at him with a tired yet unassuming glance, Pailurn rubbed one of his temples, he groaned slightly: the exhaust from some unpleasant things occuring to him, mainly his attitude to Mordegrid. He thought of how the situation felt for this man now, and assumed he did too.

“... _uuuuagh…_ god that musta been one of the lowest kicks to the gut you’ve ever had, huh?”

 

It took him off guard, Mordegrid recognized it as the beginning of an apology, it sounded sympathetic at the least. Even if he may have felt righteous about it: he wanted to sound modest.

“Eh, I’ve gotten hit lower, you’re just doing your job while I’m probably being a pain in your ass, I mean you wouldn't look at anybody else like me and expect that."

 

It made Pailurn feel worse, he made a **_*tch*_ ** with his tongue and shook his head.

“Nawww man… not _even,_ you know what I’m talking about… you’ve been dealt the arguably _worst_ hand I’ve ever seen. I mean _shit,_ and then you come up here and here we are: telling you you can’t do jack shit except watch-.”

Pailurn looked at him pensively and winced.

“-this musta been the big stinkin cherry on top, huh? Sorry pal.”

 

For the first time speaking to this army man, Mordegrid felt he could trust him entirely, he couldn’t have been hiding what he really felt, not when he sounded like _this._ Pailurn recognized the pull this entire case had on the grizzled detective, at least enough not to take the brashness as such. This wasn’t some conflict for ownership or glory, Mordegrid didn't _want_ to fight for this case. He didn’t even want to _have_ it.

 

If anything, he just wanted closure.

Mordegrid felt a small relief and  chuckled softly, an incredulous weak smile slowly forming on his face, he let Pailurn in on the reason.

“No… not even close, I think _he_ gets the cherry for jumping down a rabbit hole into nowhere: defying the laws of physics, outdoing over one hundred men, and just for all of this bullshit-”

 

He stopped smiling.

 

“-I hate to say it but… even though we’ve got no casualties outside of a dog with a concussion? I think Omega’s Outdone himself… _again…_ and he’s probably laughing at us from wherever he got to.”

 

Pailurn turned to him and shared a frown.

“Now what makes you think he got away?”

 

Mordegrid shrugged scornfully.

“I don’t know, it’s just a thought…  He causes these scenes, the bigger the better: and while we’re all put up looking for him making a big mess… he’s already gotten away… we could very well be wasting our time, just something to consider.”

 

Pailurn made a **_*tch*_ ** noise, lightly disappointed. But still he tried to sound encouraging, friendly and teasing.

“C’mon now… I was hoping you’d have a _little-”_

He even pinched his fingers together.

“-bit more faith in the military of all... -”

 

Not receiving a different reaction than a pessimistic gaze. He feigned surprise.

“- not even _me??_ Aaahhh…. “Morbid” you gotta give us just little more credit than _that_ now.”

 

The nickname made him scowl and reject the request.

“Sir… with all due respect: you don’t know what your dealing with here. Omega has done things, things you’d never expect outside of a television screen. _Unlikely_ things… _Improbable_ things… we’ve been scratching our heads so much with him, we’re gonna reach **brain** soon, we keep it up-”

He spun and pointed his hand for emphasis and language, motioning for Pailurn to pay attention.

“- and nobody sees it like that, they’re more content with blaming us, or even going so far as to call it “dumb luck” and shrug it off-”

 

Pailurn attempted to cut him off nonchalantly with a comment or an excuse: it only agitated the man more, who didn’t stop either. He partially snapped, barely intruding on Pailurn’s space.

  


“- **_dumb luck??_ ** Do you believe that what’s happened here, is nothing but dumb luck? **_”_ **

 

Pailurn squinted, slightly puzzled at the question.

“Uhh, well… I guess? I mean, he must’ve had _some_ lucky break. I don’t know, _why?”_

 

Mordegrid then shot to a different subject, snapping into it, sounding almost _offended_ at the answer.

“- okay… being that you’ve been into my files then, you believe in dumb luck… while you were in there, did you happen to read about the very events that occured on a **September 10th Two-thousand and nine?”**

 

A static Pailurn would answer him with a “no”. Mordegrid would enlighten him with a story.

* * *

 

“Heh… I thought so-”

He clapped both of his hands together and rubbed them.

 

 _“-Well…_  Three years have passed since I took that case, back then: this was just the most elusive criminal we've ever dealt with... never got to an actual showdown, just footprints and mocking notes. Well anyway, _j_ ust before that day, we’d gotten a tip on his personal report hotline: I remember it was from some confused elderly woman… we’d thought she confused his mug on a wanted poster for the real deal, keep in mind this was when a police sketch was the best we had. I remember we weren’t about to take it seriously-”

 

He shrugged, acting out the emotions he could recall from the past, and when he finished the demonstration of how skeptical he was, his hand jerked into a point for emphasis.

“- **BUT…** but, turns out it was credible. She described this fucker down to that very fang in his mouth-"

 

Mordegrid pointed at his respective canine, making a small digression.

“- you know, the silver tooth: thing right here, he’s got that slight overbite so you can just barely see it with his mouth shut? We didn't know about it back then, it was just 'Some glistening thing in his mouth' this woman gave us such a vivid description of him, that  _that_ was how we narrowed him down: the eyes, the scars... and even a tattoo just under his temple it was-"

 

Pailurn cut him off by nodding and giving a “mmhmm” hinting for him to get on with it.

“- aight, so it turns out she’s right: and she tells us where she last saw him. And by this time, we’re ramped up: I’m telling you engines running, ready to book it.”

 

Pailurn, staying cool as always merely crossed his arms and raised a brow.

“Yeah? Where was he?”

 

Mordegrid answered quickly, dismissively.

“Hm? Oh, it was some crappy apartment building… someplace in Genesee, area near it was a shithole, but the fact he actually _did_ settle somewhere, let alone a slumlord building was just unheard of, guy is _always_ on the move, he’s paranoid… bu-but hear _this_ out. We hold back on the crash team, yeah?  and stage reconnaissance… and I’m not talking about undercover cops or any of that half assed shit, we _knew_ he’d be able to find out… guy’s _that_ paranoid. No, we treated every block touching that building like a lake of lava, we stayed far the fuck away… looking at the building with binoculars, scopes… imaging devices… all of that.”

 

He continued listing the precautions, stressing every detail as if trying to prove his means, accepting no potential fault for criticism.

“And don’t you think _anybody_ had a clue about this either. Everyone down there had nothing more than sweet oblivion, local law enforcement was even kept in the dark… because we just couldn’t have the smallest thing out of the ordinary, he would _know_ somehow.”

 

The persistent nodding from Pailurn was becoming increasingly noticeable in accordance with his impatience. Mordegrid stammered nervously, and jumped to the point, also notable was his movement. He’d begun pacing around, returning to the cave: away from the ledge. But by this point, he was almost jogging.

“Point is, we couldn’t have been more careful. And we sat back and watched for two days, his every movement… burrowed into that place, and as we did: we also mapped everything out… everything out down to the cracks in the bricks that held the place up.”

 

He began counting out his fingers as he listed his examples, becoming increasingly nervous and upset.

 

“Floor plans, doors, windows, elevator shafts… _exits,_ ventilation ducts, sewers… streets, roads, town limits, borders,   **alleyways** , **subways** … **bus schedules** … **_we even choreographed our damn strike team’s every movements. This THIS,_ ** was thought of to the very end, this was guaranteed… infallible.”

He then stopped dead in his pace, grabbing his eyes and nose and exhaling an ironic laugh through his nose. When he was finished, he lost all of his emotion and spoke again: dead.

“We waited for him to close his eyes… we could see him through the window. 5th floor of the “Dwayne Gatzver” building. Room 502… I remember it was half after Midnight when the orders were given, a quarter before One when the teams took their places… there were 20 of them, put into four groups…”

 

He turned to Pailurn with the same deadpan mood, but his facial features contorted and contracted, showing more emotion than ever implied.

“... and it was at ten to 1… when the largest, a team of six… kicked his door down…-”

 

And then he asked a simple question, diabolically rhetorical… even with a false smile and bitter implied feeling.

“- you wanna know what he did?”

 

Pailurn bluntly answered it, not minding the intent behind it.

“Well he obviously got away.”

 

**“He killed every single one of them...”**

 

Pailurn lost the look on his face, and he felt the sensation of pauses strike him. Making him feel unsure for the first time.

“Uh… yuh-.. Er.., _what?”_

 

Mordgerid repeated himself, falling into some form of remorseful trance.

“He slaughtered… **_every_ ** last man… who stepped into that building…”

 

And he looked out into the gray skies, observing the world but seeing nothing outside of his thoughts. Almost lost within them.

“... we made a plan that couldn’t fail… and he completely massacred over twenty people in one night.”

 

All Pailurn did was question the only “near” reasonable things about it, challenging it defensively.

“Wait wait wait… I thought you said there were only twenty?”

 

An abject expression.

“ **_Only?”_ **

 

He made the man cringe and shift around uncomfortably.

“Jheh… Eh… You know what I mean! You said there was twenty people, what are you going at here?”

 

He hadn’t made a mistake, if anything, he let it become vague on purpose just so he could comeback like this, sinister and angry.

“ _Ohh,_ yes. Yeah, no.. that was only the number of poor souls who stepped in the building… , it doesn’t cover the twelve bystanders who heard the gunfire and explosions that rattled every building in the block... -”

 

The anger turned to a subtle mourne.

“- or the little dog…”

 

A moment of silence was given to both of them, long enough for Pailurn to take it all in while Mordegrid felt familiar regrets coming at him. He’d had his fill, and sought to end it. Trying to calm down.

Pailurn tried to get an explanation.

“But… _how???_ It's... impossible..."

But it was clear by the body language and look of bitterness that he wouldn’t get one, but that he was to just blindly believe it.

"He's just one man! There's no way he can  _do_ that!...."

 

And he did, he stopped coming up with reasons to doubt it, and let Mordegrid continue. Basked in silence.

 

“ _Anyway._ You see why I have my… _doubts?_ It’s nothing against my confidence in the military, if anything: I think you’re all far better equipped for this than I could ever get my people. You’re looking unbeatable… and I’ve happened to witness what happens when you’re so called “unbeatable.”

 

Pailurn all but accepted it, he didn't understood it one bit, but now: he realized he was facing it. And he showed the concerns to go with it now.

“Jesus _christ,_ man. That’s some deep ridden shit right there… I could look atchu and say you’re full of it… but here we are now. You couldn’t be kidding about this.”

 

Mordegrid seemed to recover quickly and was back to his normal self, he just shrugged.

“No… I really couldn’t.”

 

Pailurn suppressed an incredulous laugh, like a nervous reaction: begging for a distraction, he put both of his hands into his pockets and shook his head slowly.

“Christ… more we know, I guess. Phew… I mean, _shit…_ the more you’re tellin me about this, the more you’re making Brainz out to be like a _supervillain!_ Yeah… like some kind of “destroy the world” supervillain! And it’d make sense too!”

 

He laughed unbelievably, garnering rolled eyes from Mordegrid.

“Oh man… it’s no wonder we’re under quarantine.”

 

* * *

 

This was a new development, Mordegrid stopped scowling and repeated the word.

“ _Quarantine?”_

 

Pailurn almost made an audible “oops” but considering this entire conversation came from him admitting Mordegrid deserved to know, he shrugged it off. That being said, he closed his eyes and nodded solemnly.

“Mhm… didn’t tell you… I didn’t plan on doin so….but I know what kinda person you are now, I don’t think I need to regret telling you “classified information”.”

 

His eyes looked to the detective’s for assurance, he just maintained his unchanging sober look. So it was time to let him in. Pailurn sighed and began: sounding less than thrilled to admit what facts were present.

“Yehp… it’s a quarantine… that’s why we’re here. Ebott’s been put under L3 Quarantine protocols, military enforcement becomes mandatory after level two… our base was the closest, Fort Gruney, the best for a quick response.”

 

Mordegrid scoffed.

“You’re kidding me.”

He wanted to sound incredulous, but found he was unable to do so, given anybody else: this should’ve sounded absurd. But he’d just gotten through an example of why Suspect Omega was dangerous… there couldn’t have been much of a surprise.

 

Pailurn stiffened his lip.

“Afraid not… I am not falsifying _any_ of this, what I’m telling you is what they told us, national secrets here. We’re here to keep everyone and everything **_OUT_ ** from the area… and especially everything else **_IN…_ ** including ourselves. Not too happy with that fact we gotta be stuck here for some unspecified amount of time, but it's our jobs."

 

For once, Mordegrid felt the pulling feeling of “redundancy” it felt wrong, like it didn’t belong here… perhaps there was something else he didn’t know, something dire. He wanted to find out immediately.

“This is… **_crazy!_ ** The army must know how dangerous he really is, I was beginning to think otherwise… but, _why now?_ Why hasn’t this occured in his previous “excursions”? Let alone _that_ one! What’s going on here?”

 

The unknown began to throw his anxieties all about, it brought him close to desperation: helpless to ask overbearingly to someone bigger than him.

“ **Please…** tell me… is there some imminent threat that I don’t know about? I’m asking you to tell me… I’m not the panicking type, I just want to know what there _is_ to panic about.”

 

The sun vanished behind one of  Mount Ebott’s adjacent sisters, it’s warming glow became absent, the clouds above had overtaken the blue sky: leaving nothing but ominous gray covers. It smelled like rain.

* * *

 

Pailurn wouldn’t take the urgent demand as an attempt at his authority, he merely looked sternly down at the fussing detective, sighed and blurted out a grouping of letters joylessly.

“ **E.M.P”**

 

The look of abject bemusement on Mordegrid’s face was vague, it could’ve said two things. Pailurn tilted his head, sought to specify what the face was for.

“You know what that is?”

 

Mordegrid finally spoke and he stammered his words, unsettled because the way Pailurn was speaking, he was being serious and probably had a reason to mention these things.

“I-i-i _do…_ but what does that have to do here? Do you really mean?-”

 

Pailurn did. He wasn’t up for sounding so chipper anymore, that seemed to drop with his facade. He was dead serious, but without fear… just as a captain should. Just as Mordegrid would’ve expected, but seeing it now still took him off guard.

 

“Sometime before we arrived, something went off and fried every piece of technology in the area, a 100% yield for at least 3 miles radius. We could tell how large it was from all the sensors in place _meant_ to detect an EMP being destroyed by said EMP. All lights and electronics were disabled, whole town went dark and then some, bout the entire wilderness.”

 

Mordegrid felt something convince him to try to rebuke it, not out of defiance, but desire not to accept such a fact, he quickly remembered something from earlier.

“But… I thought that you said his car exploded over power lines, knocking out the whole town… how could he have a… that really-”

 

Pailurn didn’t even shake his head to deny it, he nodded.

“Yep yep yep, That’s correct, I _did_ tell you that… and It’s true that I gave you a fabrication… again: I wasn’t convinced I could trust you, so: I’ll hope you won’t mind that too much. But no: if he did strike power lines: only whatever’s sucking on an outlet or ground cable would go, but we’re talking about a full electronics wipe: flashlights, cell phones, **radios…”**

 

The word struck both of the men, Mordegrid’s eyes widened: and Pailurn wouldn’t have had to take notice to them to digress.

“Ah, yes… you coming in with your unit malfunctioning? If anything, besides being over a decade old… it’s fine. The people you were trying to contact though? Found themselves with over two hundred paperweights, everything absolutely fried.”

 

Pailurn _did_ take notice to the pair of eyes that deviated from his, and onto the small device on his belt that crackled in and out, with indistinguishable voices. He acknowledged it and brought his radio out for show.

“- these? These are special made…-”

 

He took the walkie talkie and waved it around in the air.

“- well… the thing... whatever **IT** is, it’s lingering… like a big cloud-a interference hanging in the air, like a big faraday cage. Nothing can get in… or out for that regard, and getting anything through on the inside is near impossible.”

 

The look he got was a question for why he and his men still had the luxury of radios, he tried to sound easygoing with it.

“This wouldn’t be “Top of the line ole _USA Army Engineering_ ” if it didn’t do anything fancy. We’re able to hone onto unorthodox frequencies otherwise unseen by just about anything else… mostly used for secure access transmissions, but also ensures a strong signal… so we have _that.”_

 

The radio was returned, and the explanation helped alleviate some unsureness barring the big picture. Mordegrid had been given the effect of something that didn’t exist yet, that or he just hadn’t discovered. And he wanted to know, badly.

“But what _is_ it? How could he manage something like this? It just seems unreal, even for him…-”

Then the only lead he could think of.

“- did he have something inside of his vehicle? Going off when he detonated it? Maybe it has a connection to this blood, some kind of reagent or explosive, or or….”

 

Pailurn began shaking his head slowly and solemnly, Mordegrid would slow to a halt pent up with anxiety. Pailurn started at the bottom and would work his way up through the words. Grunting again.

“It wasn’t the car-”  


“ **_No??”_ **

 

“- no… it wasn’t. The car went off, but it did no more than a box of pipe bombs under the seats… didn’t have anything in the fuel tank to burn either… judge he drove that thing dry and bailed on it… but you already know this: it’s nothing new.”

 

Apparently, Mordegrid didn’t know and Pailurn was slightly vexed at that.

“Cmon… _y’know…_ how he uses the “scorched earth” thing, damn religiously? Brainz is a real sore loser. Y’know the whole, “If I can’t have it, nobody can.” Bombs? You’ve had to clean up after him, _how_ many times?”

 

Mordegrid only led with unsuccessful thinking.

“Uhhhhhhh… I guess?... How do you know that exactly?”

 

Again, it must’ve been something obvious, Pailurn was able to answer and discard it.

“Duh, I’m the government… but in all seriousness, it’s not related to this. Think… if it was, then you wouldn’t have gotten to hear about the car going on your radio, we think it must’ve happened sometimes after you lost him.”

 

Mordegrid thought of it and instantly reeled back, embarrassed. It made sense, being he had contact well after Suspect Omega disappeared. For a detective, it was almost shameful making such a juvenile mistake. He practically ignored the quip at the end, claiming the loss was his responsibility and he rubbed his throbbing forehead and sighed at himself, starting again with a scoff under his breath.

“ _Shit…_ you’re right, it’s obvious, I didn’t lose communication until hours after he vanished… I… I don’t know how I could make that mistake.”

  


Pailurn didn’t want to see self loathing, it wouldn’t help them get anywhere, his assertive nature came back, with his powerful grip closing on Mordegrid’s shoulder.

“Stop… don’t waste your energy on it, you’ve got plenty better uses for it than beating yourself up… you’re just rushing yourself too much, all you’re gonna do is burn yourself out… then you _really_ won’t be of any use here.”

 

Dejavu… whether being said by his coworker in the glaze of a tired fluorescent bulb or a star wearing captain, Mordegrid heard the same shutdown once again. He worked himself to the bone to prevent the creeping feeling of failure and ineptitude, yet all he earned was comments taunting him with it for working so hard. He just couldn’t win.

 

“Okay, _fine…_ I get it, I’ve heard that a whole lot already… but tell me _this-”_

 

He broke free of the grasp and pointed a finger inquisitively.

“- _what_ is it then? You’ve had to have gotten some idea about it, if the government called a total quarantine on Ebott county and outlying… they wouldn’t just jump on this on nothing but intuition… I’d know from all the rejected proposals I’ve gotten back-”

 

The constant presence of wind was intermittent with short gales, the cave reacted to the forces as they ran through it, moaning and whistling. Mordegrid’s eyes shifted and his attitude shaded, preparing for something sinister, and he looked right into Pailurn’s hazel eyes partially shaded by his softcap.

“- and I intend to ask this without any attempts for your authority or inventions to disrespect you… but hear me. Captain… **you already know what you’re dealing with… don’t you?”**

 

At the conclusion of it, he stepped back and waited, feeling the force of air through ambiguous perspirations, tensing himself up for the most horrible… it felt familiar to receive it, and he knew it very well. Whether it would be a furious lecture and a trip back home, or something far worse… he let Pailurn make up his mind.

 

Pailurn’s men watched on, tense as all hell, curious as the man moistened his lips and took in the cooling air around with long breaths through his nose. And when he finally spoke, there was no hint of emotion to it.

“You aren’t authorized to know about this y’know…”

 

Mordegrid said nothing, he anticipated the statement going defunct with what Pailurn would follow with.

“- but you’re already inside, and you won't be goin anywhere for a while,  you won’t get any of this information outside… and I’m not referring to the quarantine and our forced nondisclosure… it’s a trust I’m giving you… respect.”

 

Before a pause could be made, Pailurn held up his finger to withhold comments and continue, concern bringing his voice up. It was grim and heavy.

“But mind you Mordegrid… mind you good, be it the _only_ thing you mind if anything else… this is a national secret… it can _not_ leave this land… in fact, I don’t want it leaving this _room…_ do you understand me?”

 

Before he could get his answer, one of his men spoke up: alarmed by their leader’s choices.

“Captain… _sir._ Are you _sure_ it’s the wisest decision to disclose something like this to him?”

 

The captain turned to his man, forceful command filling his gaze.

“Your concern is ***acknowledged*,** corporal. But you best leave concerns with how I decide to condone my company to me. Including any questions to my methods, would you happen to have any, Chavolsky?”

 

The soldier swallowed hard and stepped back to their line.

“Understood sir, No Sir.”

 

He got a quick nod and an order would follow it.

“Good… why don’t you and your squad head to your assignments now? We’re just about finished here… Sword Squad will be arriving here within ten minutes for their appointed rotation.”

 

“Yes, sir…You heard the captain, let’s go.”

With that, the escort left the two alone with the whistling maw of the cave. Pailurn motioned for Mordegrid to accompany him back inside for just a moment.

 

“We’ll head back in just a minute- but anyways… you understand what you’re gonna hear… I never told you, and you never heard anything about it… got it? And this is one of those things where if you misplace my trust… well. You won’t.”

 

It was a threat, as much as it was a premonition for how severe it was, to hear it genuinely from Pailurn was not a good sign, but knowing would be everything. Mordegrid accepted the terms and nodded his head.

“I understand sir, it won’t leave this cave.”

 

With that, Pailurn began speaking.

  
“That EMP is the reason why we’re here… when the mass failure was reported, and intelligence drew their radius for calls, it was obvious that we were dealing with a large scale increase of activity… a huge one at that… and given his nature and how much sleep he’s made this country collectively lose… it set off all sorts of bells and whistles, loud enough that we heard em, so to speak.”

 

Pailurn continued, folding his hands together calmly.

“Alright…-”

He took a deep breath, and the emotion was gone again, traded for factual speaking.

“- this event was recorded sometime after you’d lost contact with Brainz, speculated within three hours to a twelve or so, based on testimony… an anomalous expulsion of energy occurred, sourcing from this very area… the likes of which we’ve never seen… well, except for one thing… **one… little thing.”**

  


Pailurn was clearly hesitating to tell him and it only made him want to know _that_ much more, he let his burning lust for it almost sound disrespectful and urgent. For all he knew, Pailurn could be referring to the end of the world and at this point it wouldn’t be too implausible.

“What? What is it? Just tell me, _please_ for god sakes!”

 

Pailurn nodded grimly and let it out in a similarly low grunt.

“The EMP given off… we've only seen the likes of it before... when it followed a nuclear detonation."

 

Mordegrid froze, his blood turning to ice: colder than the air inside the room. He asked in disbelief, just so he could hear Pailurn _correctly_ this time. Because he misheard the word “nuclear”.

 

But Pailurn restated what he said down to the last word.

**Nuclear.**

 

Mordegrids stomach dropped four feet into his own feet. He felt his limbs quivering and stiffening up. Then he started with a anxious stare.

“You’re shitting me… you’re _shitting me!_  No… cmob You… _are… Shitting….._ Me. You aren’t serious, are you serious?-”

 

His movement was all over the place and his intentions were shot, was he calling it a lie or was he trying not to believe it.

“-Are you telling me you found a **nuke?!** What the fuck?! _How_ did he get a nuke?! How the fuck did he manage that?! Are you saying this whole place is gonna blow?! How the hell can you-”

 

With a strong motion, Pailurn cut off the source of the audible panic with his hand, getting more frantic looks and struggles. He restrained the man and tried to calm him down.

“Jesus christ man! I thought you were a professional! A “professional” in your field shouldn’t shit their pants at the first sight of smoke! Now **Take it easy!!** And listen to me, alright?”

 

Mordegrid would have to nod despite his thoughts before Pailurn unmuffled his mouth and let go of him, but when he did, he managed to restate his question with less fear.

“But did you _really_ find a **nuke??** That’s insane!”

 

Pailurn groaned irritatedly at the question and let _his_ frustration come out, rolling his eyes and his head.

“Well _No,_ Of course not! **THINK.** If we _did,_ do you think we’d all be standing here doing jack nuthin?? Ta-hell with _that_ noise! This wouldn’t be a quarantine, this would be a goddamned evacuation! I wouldn’t even stay if it was an **order!** I wouldn’t give a shit if I was breaking ranks, I’m not stupid! Neither is the government."

 

He sighed the frustration out and rubbed his buzzed head and returned to normal.

“... But no… we didn’t actually _find_ anything, nothing to answer for the pulse… and being honest with you-”

 

He saw Mordegrid slowing down some, and shrugged: offering nothing much for consolation except honesty. He smacked his lips and shrugged.

“- we really got no idea what the hell to expect, till we find anything… it could _be_ anything… you’d be surprised how less likely they think it is that he has the tech to manage this... versus a flat out nuclear bomb…yet at the same time, how would he manage the pulse, without the actual explosion? You see it makes very little sense both ways, but it seems our man is good at that."

 

He tried to get a grin out of Mordegrid, but it did little to lighten the mood. Mordegrid vacantly shook his head, sounding lost.

“I don’t even… know anymore… I mean, _shit…_ this could seriously be happening, and here I was just beating on myself, ‘Why is the army here? It makes no damn sense…’ But, I think I’m done now… this is…. _This_ is-”

 

Without warning he spun around and snapped into anger.

“- This is _bullshit!-”_

 

It took Pailurn a moment to realize the anger wasn’t directed at him, so he let it persist.

 

“-I’ve been trying to get the government, let alone the defense department to take this seriously for _years!_ **_Years!_ ** And everytime I was greeted with denials or half assed **Compromises** all for a so called “one man”, and we’ve _always_ had to suffer for it,  innocent lives being _destroyed,_ because nobody would help.”

 

Then Mordegrid turned Pailurn, again not directly ranting _at_ him, just in his direction.

“And now you’re telling me. It’s taken the threat of nuclear ***ANNIHILATION*** to get their attention?! This is… they _let_ this happen!”

 

He stopped to pant for a minute, out of breath seemingly, Pailurn stood by in case he may pass out.

“Y’all-right  there?”

 

He got a sordid thumbs up, and Mordegrid muttered.

“Just _perfect.”_

 

Easily a lie, but he was more concerned with Pailurn, how cool he was acting. The man was keeping a relatively relaxed demeanor given the situation. Forget being professional, this was beyond that: being able to talk about a nuclear event on American Soil, let alone while standing what could be the epicenter of the destruction, not an inkling of evidence that it phased him at all. The army must’ve been more hardcore than he thought.

 

This was one tough SOB. Pailurn continued as normal.

“Yeah… well, like I said… it could be _anything_ for all we know. We haven’t found anything to support the big bomb theory, but that could mean that it’s all for nothin just as much as we haven’t looked hard enough…”

 

Mordegrid looked out from his analysis of the man, and remembered something from before.

“So you _are_ actually searching the area, instead of just guarding it?”

 

The captain snorted through his nose and smirked for a moment, recognizing another lie being undone.

“Primary Directives? Find  _him,_ Find a bomb or device, or  _both,_ preferably  _both._ "

 

Mordegrid understood it, taking no offence to the fabrication from earlier… if anything he was just glad Pailurn actually trusted him to do so, that or he was good at conveying it. Pretty much anything the man said was given with such confidence that he’d be hard pressed to believe otherwise.

 

Pailurn rubbed the back of his neck, it was dotted with cold sweat

Pailurn brought the snatched vial of red back into the picture and presented it so.

“That’s uh-why I had to cut you off with this… if anything it’s why I wasn’t comfortable with you messing with this stuff at all… specially when you pointed out that this stuff may not even be blood... -

He sighed.

“- if anything, it may have pointed a couple more fingers at the big bomb theory… not enough to sway, but still something.”

 

Mordegrid took onto the thought.

“Liquid explosives… at the least to set it off… shit, I never would’ve come up with that, if that’s the case then: we really shouldn’t be in here, huh?”

 

Pailurn squinted at the vial and where it came from and reassuringly quelled the thought.

“Naaawh… we’re fine, if this really is something like…  I don’t know.. _Astrolite G?_ Or _Methyl Nitrate?_ It’s useless without a detonator… pretty useless without a pressurized container too… maybe he was carrying something and one of your boys poked a hole in it…. It’s a possibility.”

 

Again it was a small solace that was easily overlooked given the “big” problem Mordegrid now acknowledged.

“I guess it’d still pale in comparison to a nuclear bomb he may or may not have… wherever he may or may not be…”

 

Some more pieces fit together in his head, and he presented what they made for Pailurn to judge.

“Lemme guess then… you don’t want anyone, or you were told not to let anyone find out about this: because…-”

 

One he saw Pailurn light up, he let him finish the statement.

“- gov-ment dud’nt want to add mass hysteria longside their problems right now, I personally don’t like when they keep things from people, they have a right to know, especially if it they may have to worry about fallout and shit. I mean, you could hardly believe it. Think of millions of hapless folks... it's just... this is a necessary evil to keep the country safe."

 

* * *

 

With that, they were done: it all made sense now. Mordegrid couldn’t think of anything above marginal to ask in addition. It was all in good timing as well, they found themselves with company as the aforementioned squad met them in the claustrophobic room. Sergeant Lomphetts greeted the two men once again.

“Ah, there you are, sir. You gonna be coming back down anytime soon? Those orders came in like you requested.”

 

Pailurn found his easy going grin once more, discarding the doom and gloom.

“Ah excellent, good timing then. Me and the de- the lieutenant here were just about to head down actually- aight: let’s get outta their hair.”  
  


Pailurn found reluctance in the man, not for the sake of the pun he made (Being most of his men were buzzed or shaved) but just a reluctance to leave.

“You comin Morbid? Let’s go.”

 

But Mordegrid presented something else, slightly less reluctant: but unsteady in nature.

“Can I… stay here for a bit longer?”

 

He was met with some eye raised and eye squinted looks from the the guard team. Pailurn frowned.

“Er.. _why?_ Whattayou have left to do?”

 

Mordegrid sounded slightly tranced again, his attention was back to the bright yellow centerpiece of the cave.

“I don’t… _know_ actually… I just… I just wanna see some things in it still… nothing new or anything like that but… just wanna look if that’s okay.”

 

Pailurn kept the frown and pressed his lips together, partially grimacing but more from engaging a thought.

“Mmmmmmm…. I _dunno_ about that… you really can’t _do_ anything here, can you? I mean you still gotta be careful, this is a crime scene, yknow? We gotta keep it preserved till the even higher ups come.”

 

Mordegrid was persistent, yet still respectful.

“It’s alright, sir: I don’t intend on actually disturbing anything else, for whoever comes here next, I can assure you it’ll be like I was never here.”

 

Again, another hesitant noise, the guards were helpless to watch awkwardly, not one of them wished to intervene or add to the small debate.

“Eehhhhhnn…. But then… why would you want to even stay here? I mean… then you gotta get back down and we gotta get you-”

 

This was the first time Mordegrid ever interrupted Pailurn, a bold demeanor brought back from oblivion. Obviously risky, but he felt it was urgent.

“Don’t worry about that sir, I can find my way back down, _easy._ Just trust me, OK? You laid down the rules for me, you can expect I’ll follow them just like any one of your men here.”

 

He gestured to the team standing at the mouth of the cave and turned back to Pailurn.

“What do you say, sir? And, without prying: If you really don’t feel comfortable with me staying up here, then I won’t go any further and I’ll join you on the way down. I never mean disrespect.”

 

Pailurn stroked the prickled surface of his chin and let out a prolonged noise of thought as he considered it, Lomphetts just stared blankly at Mordegrid while they waited for the outcome. In the end, Pailurn seemed to loosen a bit.

“Mmmmmmm… Alright, you got me there… I really can’t think of a good reason to say no… so until I think of one-”

 

The tone in his voice meant he was kidding.

“- I suppose it won't hurt if you stick around for a little bit longer, granted you ruffle anymore bloody flowers?”

 

Mordegrid nodded respectfully.

“Of course, sir: thank you.”

 

The result seemed to displease the sergeant, standing static in the entrance: giving a spiteful snort, but ultimately adhering to his commanding officer’s words. Right before Pailurn and him would leave, Pailurn brought out his radio while at the same time: beckoning for Lomphetts to give over his own. He held his radio to Mordegrid.

 

“Here, we keep in touch: I already set the channel on this, and I’ll-”

He fidgeted with Lomphett’s device, adjusting some dials and toggles.

“- set this one to be mine-”

Then gave a glance to his sergeant.

“- don’t feel like you got the short end of the stick either: we’ll grab another back at the camp for ya-”

Back to Mordegrid.

“- but yeah, keep it as it’s set and you’ll come through to me when you hold this button, aight? Just in case you find some _other_ development or sumthin.”

 

He was partially joking while at the same time deadly sincere. Mordegrid took the radio and thanked Pailurn for it. The two men gave one last nod to each other and parted ways. Mordegrid would return to a prolonged gaze at the anomalous flowers, while Pailurn would begin descending with his sergeant.

* * *

 

The sight of an hour’s passing mocked the captain on his watch, agreeing with the rising sun: having strayed into the overcast, almost completely engulfed.

“Ahh shit, man. We’ve already burned out an hour? God dayum.”

 

Lomphetts spoke in this monotone voice, whatever he’d say wouldn’t be marred by emotions or anything “frivolous” like that. He either spoke facts or deadpanned opinions, nothing else seemed important.

“Yeah, a little over, actually. You’ve been up there appeasing that cop for a while.”

 

Pailurn snorted humorously, the dead delivery always made it funnier: that and the fact he could never tell how literal Lomphetts was. Having a literal emotionless voice had that effect. But nevertheless he found it funny.

“ **Appeased,** ha…. That’s a good one… but naw, man: I think it’s good we got him on the boat with us… after all: he’s gonna be stuck here till the all clear anyway. Better he entertains himself than realize how bored everyone is, get him all squirrly and such.”

 

Lomphetts rolled his eyes and flatly “agreed”

“Whatever you say, sir.”

 

The captain found the humor again and tried to assure the man lightly, grasping him on the shoulder.

“Ayy, now… Mordbid’s not _so_ bad…  specially consider’n his little story. Mm-mmmm I tell you what, it’s the kind of shit you see in fiction books… _besides…_ I’ll go for that trope too, and say: he kinda reminds me of myself.”

 

Lomphetts flatly “agreed” once more with him, more so to please him. Sounding as disinterested as ever.

“Mm-hmm.”

 

Pailurn chuckled again before releasing his grip.

“Heh-heh-heh… that’s why I like you, no shits given even for your commanding officer! Ha!

But seriously man, you don’t gotta worry bout him, I don’t think he’s gonna-”

 

A harsh noise interrupted his reassuring speech, a voice filtered by static and crackling erupted from Lomphetts’s borrowed receiver

“P- CAPTAIN!! Get back here! You gotta _see_ this! _Now!”_

 

Even with the loss of fidelity through the small box, Pailurn could make out the urgency and panic in the voice, seemingly belonging to the man he was _just_ vouching for. Suddenly, he seemed to forget all those assuring things about him.

“- _Fuck my mother!_ I gave him two minutes and shits in my face! _Son of a BITCH!”_

 

He did a complete turn around, pushed into a sort of frenzy by this one transgression. He found himself storming back up the path, Lomphetts was right behind him, his rifle swinging with each step.

They made it back to the entrance, a sole guard stood outside, he’d receive the first of Pailurn’s wrath.

“You! He was on your hands for TWO minutes!! What the fuck did you let him do?!”

 

The man stammered, confused and unprepared for the command.

“Uhh-Aiy-I-i, I don’t know, sir! It just happened!”

 

Pailurn pushed him aside and continued into the cave.

“Fucking useless!”

 

He charged into the room, a rampant entrance: his hand found itself married to the silver inside of his leg holster. He got his eyes on the remainder of his “inept” team and the guilty detective. He growled furiously.

“I thought I told you not to _touch!_ You think you can just do-.”

  
He stopped dead in his tracks and anger turned into something else, driven by what he witnessed: what used to be the center piece of the room.

“...Oh my holy god…”

[So that's where he went...](https://youtu.be/8b04Ws3CtLE)

 

 


	16. Undeniable Pervasion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ɪᴛ'ꜱ ɴᴏ ᴜꜱᴇ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴛᴏ ʏᴇꜱᴛᴇʀᴅᴀʏ
> 
> S̸H̴A̷T̴T̸E̴R̵
> 
>  
> 
> ᴵ ᵏⁿᵉʷ ʷʰᵒ ᴵ ʷᵃˢ
> 
>  
> 
> Wₕₒ ₗₑfₜ bₗₒₒd ₒₙ ₜₕₑ cₐᵣₚₑₜ?
> 
>  
> 
> ʙᴜᴛ ɪ'ᴠᴇ ᴄʜᴀɴɢᴇᴅ ᴀ ꜰᴇᴡ ᴛɪᴍᴇꜱ, ꜱɪɴᴄᴇ ᴛʜᴇɴ.
> 
> Everything is falling apart.
> 
> I hear a dyᵢₙg wₐᵢₗ.
> 
> S̸T̴O̴P̷ ̷C̵R̷Y̶I̷N̷G̶
> 
> ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇɴ'ᴛ ᴀ ᴄʜɪʟᴅ ᴀɴʏᴍᴏʀᴇ
> 
> S̶̗̍T̴̮̒O̴̩͗P̶̤͝ ̷̅͜C̸̥̒R̸̛̯Y̶̰͒I̵̙͝N̷̘͗G̶͉͗
> 
>  
> 
> KNOCK KNOCK  
> Wₕₒ'ₛ ₜₕₑᵣₑ?  
> BUT NOBODY CAME

“Okay, that’s enough of that...”

Sometime during the hysteria, Brainz had decided to stop: pending the idea that his paranoia was his only company now. He slumped against the wall behind him and caught his breath, bringing composure along with it. He couldn’t keep himself from making obsessive glances at his hands, any assurance that they wouldn’t turn red again had a longevity of seconds.

“... it’s _over,_ I’m good. Just a trick-”

To be fair, they _did_ turn up red when he utilized his “freak” eye, but so did his new bat, and even himself: the idea of a gene mutation giving him sub UV light detection abilities was still credible, it’d explain a lot: but he wasn’t concerned with that now.

“...I’m _fine._ I’m fine… I’m just… _fine.”_

What he _was_ concerned with was obviously had to do with whatever induced the episode, to Brainz: some of what he saw _had_ to be real, he couldn’t have hallucinated _all_ of it: but somewhere in his delusion he’d witnessed the source of the attack. Arguably, the traumatic throwback ceased along with the persistent weeping noise that’d plagued him.

 

“Goddamned ghosts, man… they exist, I seen what they can do on TV, they fuck with your head… haven’t gone vivid like that for… _shit,_ forever.”

 

It was the first time he’d ever remembered the likes of “Paranormal Documentaries” without irony and skepticism. Mocking the “real people **NOT ACTORS”** and their melodramatic displays of “ghostly possessions” and demonic influence. That all seemed a step more believable now. He was beginning to really ponder about a _lot_ of the things he’d chalked up as “Bullshit” in his life.

 

How could he overlook this for so long? He thought.

“Oh, right...  I’ve been fighting for my life every five minutes, don’t have time to sweat the little things… like I… do… _noww…_ hmm.”

 

He looked around paranoidly again, his eyes took shifts from glancing at his hands to vigilantly glaring at the five ways to enter this room, untrusting that he really _was_ alone: even with the exception of being haunted now.

 

But whatever, he digressed: the doubt that these strange places and nonsensical beings truly existed was long gone. This was all _very_ real, and in order for him to get to this conclusion: he had to have his grasp on reality ripped out of his feeble hands piece by piece: time and time again. As it lay inside of him torn open to let these transgressions against “logic” to be received, he couldn’t help but ask himself: “What _else_ were we wrong about?”

 

He believed the likes of the “Colossal Squid” to be outright fabrications, but did he not witness a “Giant sea spider?” hours ago? Is the “Loch Ness Monster” that thing’s girlfriend or something?

Autonomous skeletons… thought to only exist behind the television screen in cheesy horror movies, but evidently roaming the world wild. What about **bigfoot?** _That_ one would be a doozy alright, what if that was just Toriel taking a stroll outside? _She_ was pretty big and the one thing he’d noticed about her was the size of those things below her, they were just _ridiculous!_ Brainz thought- … well it wouldn’t matter anyway: she was probably gone and…. he thought that he should stop thinking about it, and get on with… whatever the hell he was doing. Thinking about these things ironically helped him stay relatively sane, but overthinking them would do just the opposite.

 

With a small grunt of effort, he sat up and cracked his stiff knuckles and clicked his neck joints.

“ _AAaall_ righty, let’s get back in business.”

 

The first order of “business” was to start removing his clothes in an orderly fashion, now only one at a time for what he needed to do with them as he was quite self conscious about being caught naked… let alone being caught just existing: he kept up the compulsive glances around the room.

 

Giving his sitting spot ample distance by leaning over: Brainz meticulously wrung out his garments one by one: feeding into a puddle of murky brown water. He started with the soggy wool sweater that began to itch and ride, and ended with his socks, turning them inside out too. While he was down at his feet, Brainz removed the brown stained gauze wrapped around his ankle: being it felt gross and slimy… that, and his ankle didn’t hurt _that_ much anymore.

 

The puddle had grown by a fair amount when he had finished and stood back up, his efforts were _modestly_ successful at most, the smell was going to hug him until he died(He’d gotten used to it anyway), but his outfit had gone from soaked to _damp,_ it was a vast improvement and only suggested at hypothermia instead of welcoming it in being soaked and all. He huffed into his hands and rubbed them together for some warmth.

“Hoo boy, it’s _drafty_ in here.”

He was still grossly uncomfortable and bitterly cold, the ghastly feeling when you step out of a bathtub: no towels in sight.

“Eugh…”

 

Brainz slung his weapon over his cauterized shoulder and stepped into the center of the room, but a preliminary look into the pond of horrors came before the room survey. He looked down, and only met a slightly distorted reflection of himself glaring up at him, he shivered and tried to look past it… but a thought made him kneel down slowly.

“Hey… this doesn’t smell like a public bathroom, is this drinkable? I’m about to wilt, I’m so thirsty.”

 

His stomach moaned disappointedly too, he looked down to scold it.

“Don’t even start, be lucky If I find a bag of chips.”

He began to reminisce about the “Bench Quiche” he was all too hasty to discard, it was starting to rose tint to a five course meal in his mind: he was so hungry. But enough regrets, back to the pond.

 

Brainz made a realizing noise and winced sharply, withdrawing his hand from scooping some of the water.

“Ahh… shit, I dipped my shit covered hands in this like an _idiot._ Shit.”

As he stood up, another thing dawned on him.

“There’s no visible source either… this shit is _stagnant,_ it could be from the shithole behind me for all I know and just can’t smell it anymore… wonder if they’re expanding. But if anything, I’m not drinking **evil** water I don’t want that inside of me.”

 

He was desperate enough to consider this as a _last minute_ option come risk of death from dehydration, but not desperate enough to get whatever was in that water _inside_ of him, as if he didn’t have enough problems already… as for food?  He’d get to that… he hoped.

 

“So what do I have now?”

He took that survey of the room, and it gave him just the data he needed to come to the conclusion that.

“I’m so fucking lost…”

 

Apart from the dead end he came from, this room had **five** connections into it.

“Couldn’t that bedsheet wearing fuckhead wait until _“AFTER”_ this kid gave me directions?”

 

A frustrated sigh and he had his answer, making the question rhetorical really.

“No, of course not: because I need to be inconvenienced at every turn I get, to keep the world from ending it seems.”

 

In the midst of his complaining though, he spotted a sign just in the corner of the room.

“Oh, ok.”

He hobbled over to it, but midway, he stopped and turned his head.

“ _Huh?”_

But shook it and proceeded again, muttering to himself.

“Hmph.. Thought I saw something red… besides myself… _anywho…_ what do we have here?”

 

_North: Blook Acres_

_East: Hotland_

_???: Temmie Village_

 

“What?”

This was a “sorta” disappointing sign, whoever put it up was either vague or incompetent, Brainz lightly backhanded it as he made the frustration obvious.

“The hell am I supposed to get from this? Was “LEFT” and “RIGHT” too complicated for them?? Why do people have to do that?  And for that matter… where’s the compass? What IS east? Is it my right? Why did they leave out west or south? Or did they just forget HOW to spell them and left question marks like an idiot… Jesus Christ these things are incompetent.”

 

He crossed his arms and felt his rash disappointment in this place come back to him, bringing a recurring theme too.

“And once again… I don’t see the word _“EXIT”_

 

A good long sigh and a glance back at all of his choices, and his conclusion was bitter.

“Okay then, **_so…_ ** I’m more than certain this is going to turn out where I’m going to take every path _EXCEPT_ the right one, where each way is going to expose me to some horror or bodily trauma and just loops me _back_ around, just for me to waste my time and my life… **_sooo-”_ **

 

As he theory came into fruition, he examined the possible paths while scratching his chin.

“- The best thing for _me_ to do would be to pick the path I would take _LAST: FIRST._ And in that case… I would always leave the _middle_ one for the last, because of OCD… huhhmm…”

 

He had a brief stint of altering personality, a bit of a shy question.

“Does that… does that make sense?-

Then an assuring bout of confidence.

“Oh _yeah._ Yeah, that sounds good.”

But there was a surprise question after by the timid ego.

“Even with the thing standing in it?”

He scrunched his face at himself and awkwardly answered just to appease himself.

“Yeaah? It’s fine wh-

 

Brainz jittered and his face jumped up, along with his personality.

“Wait-what?”

He looked up from himself and down the chosen path urgently, there was no one there, he questioned himself.

“What _thing?_ When did I see a thing- I don’t-”

Then he questioned himself questioning himself, more concerned with the nature of it.

“ **_Wait,_ ** what am I **_doing???_ ** ”

 

Brainz shook his head vigorously and rubbed at his sore head.

“Apart from actually losing it… Jesus Christ… this place is messing with my head again, I should leave before the next show.”

 

“Well _this_ is… yeah… hmm.”

He really didn’t have any consistent thoughts on what he was seeing, he was much too indifferent to decide if this path was a poor choice just from first looks. A small, yet quite tall chamber, just large enough to fit two of the oddest houses he’d ever seen in his life. They looked like twins-

“-Vaguely phallic looking Twin… houses… wonder if anyone’s home: I hope not.”

 

He looked up to see a set of matching windows on each of the buildings, much too high for him to peer through. He rubbed his neck indecisively. He was curious to say the least on what lay inside the strange looking abodes, but god forbid he welcome himself inside while the owner stared at him bug eyed. Being pegged as a burglar by someone screaming bloody murder _really_ wasn’t tactful.

 

In the end, he really wasn’t ready to take that risk, not when whoever could’ve been inside was oblivious to his presence, the less “people” who weren’t: the better.

“Ehn, I’m just gonna keep going.”

 

Brainz began to totter down the way, but it happened again: something caused him to stop, another unforeseen occurrence. This wasn’t a stray floater lingering in the corner of his vision, nothing to be seen: but definitely something to be heard and _remembered._

_The weeping noise._

It put him on edge, into a frenzy almost. He tensed up and begged himself not to submit to it, grunting under his breath, even going so far to cup his ears.

“ _Not…. Again…”_

 

But it was different this time, the noise was all but omnipresent, it had a clear and obvious source, Brainz spun around, and the answer was right in front of him. Just behind the door of the home he’d disregarded not moments ago.   

He froze briefly, letting it fester was what caused the episode to _happen:_ but he couldn’t help it, what he needed to do wouldn’t come to him! Dare he barge in and confront this cursed song of diabolical meanings? Risk discovering something horrible or something horrible discovering _him?_ Or had he already been taken somewhere else again, throwing that door open to another haunted room living inside of him. He began to clench and cringe, shaking with anxiety, it wouldn’t be long before he’d slip and come to a hasted-

“ **Fuck it!”**

 

Brainz hurtled to the leftmost of the homes and strangled the doorknob, it resisted him none and he burst into the world behind it. He conducted a full charge, eyes peeled open and weapon leading the way: footing pushed into a sprint.

“ **I gotcha** **_THIS_ ** **time** **_!_ ** **You-”**

 

His charge was aborted, stopping his confrontation declaration and momentum alike, almost sending him into a trip down to the splintery wood floor. He intensely looked around the seemingly vacant room, his resolve on the verge of slipping. But try as he did to vindicate his blood lust: it was irrefutable: the crying had stopped **and there was nobody there.**

 

“Oh come _OOoooon!_ You kidding me with this shit?!”

Brainz dropped his arms to his side and casually tried the door to ensure it didn’t lock behind him (It didn’t) then growled, fed up and incensed.

“I’m not **_IMAGINING_ ** that noise! I **_HEARD_ ** it! Someone’s putting the screws to me!”

 

He opened his arms and brandished his pose, threateningly as he spun around the room: a display for someone that would never show up. Then he closed back into himself and muttered anxiously into his hands.

“I just _know,_ they’re doing it on purpose. They _know,_ how do they _know?_ How did they find out? They’re trying to make me crazy, It’s the same story every time! You give someone the benefit of the doubt and they fuck you in the head!”

 

An idea, forged in spite caused him to light up and shout, funneling his hand by his mouth for more blatant amplification, he threw a rictus grin onto his face

“ **_HA! I GOTCHA, DIDN’T I?! That’s some REAAL funny shit you’re pulling!-”_ **

He forced himself to laugh obnoxiously and proudly, pushing his airways too far and inducing a coughing fit, but he was right back at it when he was done, feigning humor.

“- **I was just** **_fuck’n_ ** **with ya the WHOLE TIME! You think I’m some kind of mental case?! PAH!”**

 

In honestly, he really didn’t know what he was attempting or if he really expected it to work, he just couldn’t hold the urge to scream and tried to use it to his advantage. He was good at fabricating tales and stories, but not so much convincing anyone (himself even) of his “crystal clear” sanity.

 

True honesty? He stopped yelling his bluff, especially realizing it for what it was. A fit of mania: it was anything but good. To him, a sign that he was slowly losing control of himself. But they didn’t have to know that. He stopped yelling and finished his statement.

“I’m onto you, you know that.”

 

Whatever he was “on to” coaxed him into breaking into someone’s house, Brainz suspected there was something it wanted him to see, being that it really didn’t seem like a trap. But taking a look at the place… he wasn’t impressed, or at all mystified.

“ _This_ is it??

 

Some shabby crackling drywalls on top of a dilapidated floor made of old wood, all contained in one room, that window that suggested a second floor he couldn’t reach? _What_ second floor, if there was one then the builders forgot to put a staircase or a ladder to reach it: he wasn’t surprised _one_ bit.

“I’ve seen dorm apartments that were scarier than this-”

If the intention of “whatever the hell that was” was to unsettle him, it failed miserably: Brainz was so unamused by the home that he actually amused himself with a smug grin reappearing on his face.

“- all that creepy shit and set up for _this?-”_ Brainz buzzed his lips disappointedly. “- I mean come _ooon._ Talk about a anticlimax.”

Brainz took one more look outside, half expecting someone to rush him: completing the idea of a poorly made ambush, but no. He swaggered back inside and took a look back at the door, again: expecting it to slam shut: locks clicking in place. But it never did, so it just invited him to be more disappointed with the place. He leaned his weapon against the nearest wall and took a more thorough look at the place.

 

His first discovery made him change his disposition to the so called “disappointment” house.

“Wait is that a fridge?”

 

Suddenly, this “dorm” wasn’t so sad, and neither was _he._

“Holy sheep shit, it _IS_ a fridge!”

 

No hesitation or suspicion that a dead body or shrunken heads would be stored in there, he barreled towards the thing and flung the door open, only raising his hopes more when the cold escaping from it clung to his damp clot

hes and made him shiver.

“Aawh, Thank _GAWD!!_ Fucking YES!!!”

 

This _WAS_ impressive, let alone miraculous, the little light emanating from inside could’ve been a ray from the heavens. There was so much to choose from, albeit unbranded things that he’d _NEVER_ heard of or seen in his life, but no matter! Now was pinnacle of the worst time to be picky. Whatever was inside _looked_ edible… to be fair, the cooked flesh on his arm was starting to look edible too… but-

 

“- don’t care, GIMME!”

A “normalish” looking sandwich laying on a paper plate, front and center shelf almost beckoned to him, Brainz swiped it with both of his hands and went to take a ravenous bite out of it and-

“What?”

He looked down at his empty hands and back to the undisturbed sandwich.

“Oh… whoops, guess I _missed._ That’s a bit weird, but OK: it happens.”

 

So he went to grab it more attentively this time… same result.

“What the hell?”

Brainz’s face slumped with the exception of his one eye, and he began reaching for the morsel experimentally and slowly… swiping his hands faster when they failed to actually “touch” the sandwich, he began to pout: offended.

“Holographic sandwich... _Really?_ Talk about a kick to my balls, they _actually_ went through the whole fuss of setting up a hologram and using subtle influences to drag me in here… _JUST_  to troll me, with a lousy sandwich.”

 

Brainz tried grabbing for anything else in the “fridge” with similar results.

“Touché.... Fuckweeds.”

He slammed the door shut and scoffed, adding to the idea pessimistically.

“I bet that was a _meatloaf_ sandwich, too.”

 

He exhaled sharply and feigned wonder with his attitude this time, clapping his hands together once.

“ _SO,_ what _else,_ is inside the spiteful funhouse?”

 

Next on the list of things to examine, a large archaic looking television just sitting on the floor. Admittedly, Brainz _was_ genuinely curious still. The notion that these “things” had working electricity and now television? Simply bizarre, the antennas on top of the unit dated it severely. But none of that would matter if it actually _worked._

“Even though I’m almost 100% certain that bitch from “The Ring” is going to climb out of this when I turn it on and start doing the “Thriller” dance… I wonder…”

 

He began peering around the old thing for a remote control or a cable box of sorts.

“... I wonder if this thing can pick up the channels up top… wonder if I can catch the news about me… I’m _sure_ there’s like twelve channels at the least staring at this miserable mountain… I’d actually like to find that out: I’m already anxious to see how they’ll handle reporting _this_ fucked up place. Or maybe the government will cover it up while at the same time filling this place with concrete to _actually_ cover it up…”

 

Well, as he speculated some more he couldn’t find such peripherals in sight, but he didn’t care too much: the thought of having to press the buttons on the TV didn’t make him break out in hives like it did so many _normal_ people.

 

**_*KSHZZZZZZzzzzzzZZZzzzzHHzzz-*_ **

An earful of static, and someone turned the volume up all the way. He recoiled and cupped over the ear that took the sound full blast.

“mmm _MMMMnhg!_ I _hate_ that...  ugh!”

 

He found the knob on the box responsible for ending his discomfort, cranking it all the way down while feeling slightly disappointed in himself.

“Y’know… I think I saw that coming. With the phantom fridge and all.”

 

His ears rung some more, he begrudgingly fiddled with the TV: surfing through the varying snow channels. The furrow in his brow lowered.

“Is this thing even plugged _IN?_ I mean, shit! There’s no cable or nothing-”

 

He made sure that was true, looking behind the thing and failing to find the power cable as well.

“- and those antennas wouldn’t even work even with _out!_ The cave interference, so what’s the point???”

 

He stood up and killed the power, then remember he’d already the answer.

“Oh that’s right! **_There IS no point!!_** Just like everything else in this god forsaken place!!"

 

An exasperated and angry sigh, then onto the next thing, calming him down and interrupting his frustration.

“Is that a computer?”

 

Brainz confirmed it, yet it only gave him more questions.

“They can use computers? Why do they have computers? Where did they get a computer? Does it actually work? What kinda-”

 

His face soured a bit, taking the yellowed plastic and less than ergonomic design into mind, then he read the tarnished remains of a reflective sticker: still on the tower.

“Intel Inside! Pentium II.”

 

He blew a raspberry with his lips and laughed disrespectfully.

“This isn’t a computer, it’s a goddamned dinosaur! Hah hah haaaah!... Oh wait!... I bet somebody threw it out and it ended up in the garbage fall. I guess these primitive apes live about twenty years behind us in technology.”

 

He took a look back at the bulky television.

“Guess that’d explain the television.”

 

There really wasn’t a reason to be so hard on the archaic technology, especially when he crouched down and pressed the power button.

“Can this even work?”

 

The old tower answered him, revving up with sounds synonymous to a jet engine starting: it ground with age.

 

Now he _was_ impressed.

“ _Damn!_ I can’t believe it, it actually works.”

 

Well, that wasn’t quite true yet, the noises it made actually intimidated him enough to take a step back or two, it gave him a less than reasonable suspicion that it may explode. Computers were never his strong suit.

 

The noises persisted as the old beast insufferably slowly started up, he decided to take a look at the rest of house to appease his attention disorder. The place was barren of additional furniture… he _did_ find a couple of what looked like jewel cases on the ground… next to a large spider web.

 

He shivered badly, his goosebumps came back: instigated from something other than cold.

“Euuughhhhh… oh god, I fucking hate spiders… just-”

A shudder made him cringe up, and he took extra distance from the corner of the home.

“- look at the size of that thing… I don’t wanna fucking know…”

 

He looked up in the rafters for holes in the ceiling or additional webs, then he had another involuntary shudder at the thought of a large Australian sized spider dropping down on him. He had enough, the air inside began to feel heavy. He had some trouble breathing, and his sweater began to feel restrictive.

“Y’know what? It’s not worth it, not worth it… I-i-I-iiii… think I should leave…”

He made for the door, collecting his bat: muttering under his breath.

“-giant spiders, please don’t. Please god don’t. Please please… just no… no-no spiders, I can’t.”

 

But just as he reached the door to freedom, a loud noise caused him to jump, banging his head into the doorframe and almost collapsing from the blow, reduced to painful stumbling and guttural pain noises that screamed in his throat,

 

“ _WHYYyyyy!! NNnyaaaergh!... Owww… Oaawwhh… Ow,.... Oww… ow..”_

 

Over the sharp breathing and cringed pain noises, a tune could be heard emanating from the place he’d just left.

 

He growled furiously and let himself back in, hand on his developing bump and another raising his weapon with the intent to bludgeon the source of the sound into silence.

What he discovered only made his misery worse. The television had decided, not only to wake itself up, but to rollback the changes he’d made to the volume: now loud to the point of pain again. He wasn’t met with a screen full of snow however… it was something less chaotic. A test pattern painting a spectrum of colors accompanied by a looping jingle akin to a game show.

 

When the blurring from his vision ebbed enough, Brainz could make out some text at the bottom of the screen.

_STAY TUNED FOR A NEW PROGRAM - MTT_

 

He hadn’t the will to keep looking at the screen, the harsh flickering light hurt his eyes, that and his inability to focus on anything in this house without making an obsessive glance at the still empty spiderweb… well empty, save a piece of paper: but he had no desire to reach in and grab it, nor did he to wait for the computer that still sounded like it was about to self destruct. A progress bar claiming only 20% of the way, he also thought he could vaguely smell smoke… but that could’ve been from the exacerbated concussion.

 

He was about to leave: for “real” this time, he promised himself nothing would make him turn around again. Being the rude television hadn’t changed its screen, he made one last glance at it, squinting hard, but there was something different this time. A strange discoloration midst the colorful pattern.

“Creepy… almost looks like a person…”

Wait….”

 

He moved in and bent over for a closer look despite his sore eyes, he eased up: seeing the shape mimic him: it was nothing more than vague reflection in the screen.

“Oh…”

But there was something _off_ about it, his shadow in the screen seemed larger than it should, there was something about it. A large portion of it that refused to move. He moved all of his arms and legs, wafting the bat too… but he still couldn’t get it to follow. It was right on top of  him, it made no sense.

 

Then… he leant over to one side… and that one reflection turned into two. One of them… didn’t belong to him. _That_ one… would belong to whoever was standing in the doorway right behind him.

 

A massive shiver rushed through his spine and exploded into his head, waking up every urge for self preservation and action, stimulating his burnt out adrenal glands. He spun around within an instant, nimble over the dizziness.

 

He saw it, he saw its indistinguishable silhouette mass glaring at him in the doorway, challenging him for the brief second it stood: before rushing out of sight and effectively vanishing.

 

* * *

 

“ **_HEY!! GET BACK HERE!!”_ **

He shouted in burning offense and sprinted after it, he took frantic and maddened glances upon leaving the house: face in a permanent snarl. He wouldn’t find _it,_ but instead a trail belonging to it. Large red footprints, the largest prints he’d ever seen in his life, escaping down the way to his left, unknown and elusive.

 

There was no hesitation nor thought, he suddenly became infected with a maniacal rage.

“ **I SAW YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!!! I FUCKING SAW YOU!!”**

He hurtled down the trail of footprints mercilessly, unsure of who or what he was trailing… but an assumed certainty that took over him: that whatever it was, had to be responsible for his delusions. And further certain that when he’d catch up to it: **it would never cross him again.** Or anyone else for that matter.

 

The cavern remained forward, room after room without a turn: they weren’t empty, but to him: everything was just a rushing blur passing behind him, all he could see was red as his feet slammed and kicked up the ground from under him. He began to feel it again, the rush: the scorching sensation in his airways, traveling to his limbs. Brainz felt it, his limbs were on fire and he had to run. His ailments were helpless and couldn’t stop him until it was over.

 

But something else would stop him.

 

A wall, while the tracks didn’t seem to mind going through it; Brainz hadn't the opportunity to consider it whilst in his death charge. He was so tunnel visioned on running, staring down at the ground and watching the red that the wall had completely blindsided him. All that momentum didn’t help him, and he hit it _hard._ He rebounded off of the surface and fell down.

 

* * *

 

The fury dissipated, presumably seeping out from all the new cracks he felt inside of his brain, which itself felt like it was oozing from his ears. Brainz just lay there utterly dazed, and panting.

 

A whimper seemed to croak out of him.

“Awhh… haw… Haaauoohhg….

Why did I _do_ that?

Uugh..”

 

He couldn’t even remember what he was doing:

_BesideS BesEEching the slug SLYLy, simpLy Serendipitous aND-_

 

“No, don’t start that again…”

Bainz turned his head over as he felt the world stabilize again, his equilibrium was still recovering from the blow. It was already handicapped by the concussion marred by the withdrawal. But his vision unblurred enough to make something out, just beyond his face actually.

 

A mess of glossy ceramic looking fragments, they were tiny: like a dead seashell… or a ~~Snail~~  Slug’s previous shell. It crept to him: he must’ve stepped on it in his barbaric charge. Yes… it was all there, and the _previous_ owner wasn’t too happy with that, shouting miniature obscenities at him.

 

Brainz squinted and tried to shake it out of his head, mumbling confused words to himself.

“S’not _actually_ talking to me… is it? S’probably mad, I’m not… hearing it…”

 

Regardless of what he’d believe, the disgruntled and homeless slug began to make for him: probably to give him what for, and they were booking it: which meant Brainz had a good ten to a half hour to get his bearings before it’d reach him. He burnt through twenty before he was able to get up and stay up, albeit unstable and dizzy. His bat made a good cane.

 

He lost most of his motivation for offense, just out of a lack of tolerance to exert his sore self: that and the acceptance that whatever it was was either long gone… or never existed.

“No… it _had_ to… I’m not… crazy.”

 

He turned to the wall and noted a new feature on it: it was spattered with drops of red, all over… it didn’t take too long to figure why, especially when he felt the liquid running down his lips and that familiar iron like taste.

“Awhhh man…. Not again.”

 

Brainz had to pinch his nose and tilt his head up, he’d have to do this for a while… it was all too familiar, he’d always get these wicked nosebleeds after exerting himself like that: and they’d take their sweet time before they stopped.

 

But back to the wall and the prints, there was only _one_ thought that came to mind.

“I… remember this gag. This isn’t a real wall… just like last time.”

He also remembered somebody else who ran into walls…

But stop, there were more important things to think about right now.

 

Actually, he wasn’t too confident in his thought, the last wall crumbled with just a kick… and this one took his entire body at full steam and knocked him right down! He didn’t miss it either… his impact was spot on with where the footprints went. Speaking of the footprints-

“Wait.. the fffu- where’d they go?!”

 

-They were gone.

The only sightings of red belonged to Brainz, dripping down the wall or seeping through his fingers.

 

They did it again… and he fell right for it, dazed and bloody. Fool him once, shame on them, do it _well_ over “again?” Brainz couldn’t feel shame on himself, he was much to disheartened… and he slumped down against the wall, holding onto his head and whimpering silently.

“J-jjust… st- _stoop…._ *please*... this even isn’t _funny_ anymore… I can’t _do_ this…”

 

The unsureness, the exertion, the feeling of worthlessness. Was he being haunted by a true ghost, or was this all in his head. In his imagination, there were no such things as ghosts, and no such things as monsters… was _he_ broken or was _reality_ broken. He’d never find out, and this world would serve to exploit him.

 

His despair flared up desperately, pushing him into anger.

“I _can’t_ fucking, **_DO this_ ** anymore!”

 

Getting angry was all he could do, it would be all that kept him from just breaking down and crying at this point, that and laughing… he felt the nervous chuckles coming out of him. Nothing was funny, but he couldn’t stop laughing… twitching with them. His face tugged on his lips, forcing them into that familiar grin.

 

Brainz stood up and walked back, listlessly: almost ignoring the irate slug and surroundings entirely, save for one look back at his own blood painted on the wall… he saw it begin to move: begging to form into something. It only forced him to laugh harder, and he turned his back to it. They’d done enough to his mind, he wasn’t interested. He just wanted to _leave._

 

What he _could’ve_ been interested in, greeted him once more as he back tracked through rooms: he’d previously overlooked a large pen of sorts. Comically large considering the animals kept inside, more snails: more fortunate than the one slug that had the misfortune to run into him. Brainz _may_ have seen a track of sorts back in the wall room, which would’ve made this whole scenario stupid to the point of humor. But he wasn’t so sure of himself right now, his head hurt.

 

This room had a choice of it’s own to make, a deviating path from the main. He wasn’t sure why he took it, perhaps the anxiety and lack of desire of returning to the funhouse for more torment. Or perhaps he achieved sweet apathy. He wasn’t sure, and he wished he didn’t care.

(...)

“Huh… all roads lead to Rome.”

 

He’d returned to the evil pond room, discovering where the middle and the top right path went. It seemed he’d done that thing about choosing every path except the right one, the very thing he was afraid of and influenced his choice. But he _did_ discover where two of them went, so that actually balanced out. He scoffed.

“Hmph, talk about yer self fulfilling prophecies...  where do I got next?”

 

He returned to the sorta useless sign for reference and realized it was still useless, or maybe “Blook Acres” was a snail racing ranch owned by mischievous ghosts.

“Come on man… get serious.”

Well, by any means if _that_ was north, then the path adjacent to the sign would be EAST, which meant it would go to this “Hotlands” Brainz had no intention of going that way, the name turned him off. Even though he was damp, cold and utterly miserable, it was preferable to being hot. He wasn’t sure how a cave could have differing temperatures like this… but this is the same cave that was _snowing_ a way’s back. Regardless, Brainz didn’t like heat.

“And knowing my luck, this place will turn out to be a volcano.”

 

He had two choices now, one more path going UP, the westmost of the trio, or the path going simply west. OCD struck again, being he’d already traversed two of the north paths, he kind of wanted to get the last one just for a sense of completion.

“I know I’m going to regret this, but whatever… I’m already fucked anyway.”

 

And off he went, making unsure glances behind him with every other step he took: lest he see something else horrible and abhorrent.

 

* * *

 

“Baueugh!”

Brainz flinched dramatically at what lay in front of him, throwing a hasty retreat behind a wall. He cautiously peeked out for some time and he eventually found the courage to approach…

 

“The shit is _this_??”

 

It _glared_ at him, locked into a vicious stare. And it contested for the nastiest thing he’d seen so far. Before he could even begin to describe it, he had to answer one glaring question: preferably with a solid NO, or else he wasn’t getting near it.

 

“Is this thing… _alive????_ ”

Then a frankly mortified comment.

“It looks like a gigantic evil _piranha!_ Fucking hell, _look at it!”_

 

Then the further disgusting observation, noting the static thing and the windows on it.

“Did somebody like… slay this beast and turn it into a _house?!”_

 

He shook and he trembled, and he wouldn’t proceed any closer without putting his grenade in his hand, he may have promised to flowey he’d use it on Asgore… but Brainz needed to be _ALIVE_ to even get that far. So just in case this thing _was_ alive, he would chuck it, run away, and hope the blast wouldn’t cause a cave in.

 

This suspicion however, would prove unneeded: the structure was as lively as the stone in the walls all around. He could relax that much, but the concept disturbed him something horrible. Legitimately disturbing him.

“Okay, so… I’ve seen some real fucked up shit: I’ve _DONE_ some real fucked up shit… but this is just wrong…”

 

Brainz cautiously approached one of the eyes windows, and peered inside. It was dark and hard to see, but he could see the established flooring and even drywalls.

“Aight so… whoever did… -”

He didn’t want to name it, so he just gestured to the “home” with his arms.

“- **_this…_ ** killed a fuck-off sized gigantic piranha, then gutted it dry, and then built an actual full fledged house inside of it… **_OR_ ** someone is just _really_ talented at building really fucking disturbing houses…”

 

He thought of the last house he was just in, and it influenced how he felt about it.

“Y’know… I can’t even decide which would be worse, who would even _live_ in this… _Ghoul shack??”_

 

There were lesser details about the whole place, a welcome mat depicting a fish skeleton: with a much larger mat seating what looked like a combat dummy.

 

“Hmph.”

Brainz couldn’t resist giving it a go, he placed his weapon down and limbered up. Falling into his favorite fighting stance and laying the thing out with a series of hard hitting hooks and bricklike uppercuts. Before he knew it, he began to feel winded: he took it as the place to stop, picking up his weapon and wiping his head.

 

“Phew… got a little carried away there… but I feel a little better now-”

He smirked.

“- can’t say the same for you, huh?”

The dummy’s silence said everything he wanted to hear.

 

With that, he was back to the grotesque house. Or at least, the last thing to examine _but_ the house. The _un-_ welcome mat had a letter placed delicately on it, amidst varying parcels and envelopes. He spared but a minute to consider what he was about to do, but shrugged.

“Do felonies even count down here? If so, what’s one more? I really don’t care.”

 

So he bent over and… admittedly withdrew his hand cautiously a couple of times, out of the lingering fear the house would come to life and bite his hand off… the scary looking teeth door really didn’t help.

“Alright so, let’s see what you have to say here.”

 

Brainz examined the stop of the stolen mail, it hadn’t so much as a stamp or an address on it: but what it did have…

_For: Undyne._

-Alphys.

 

His eyes shot open.

“Wait… _UNDYNE???”_

 

And the realization caused him to drop the letter and take some anxious steps back from the home.

“This is their house…   _ooohhh shit!_ This is his house!”  

 

He took it all in with a new perspective, and it made him nod: this abomination of an abode.

“Y’know… this actually makes sense, this Undyne being some insane-o psycho whaler fucker… but ohh.. Shit, man.”

 

The thing was, as much as he wouldn’t give off, when the name occurred to him: Brainz felt his heart skip a beat or two… and his mocking confidence seemed to go, he shrank back an additional step.

“H-hey… he’s not home… is he?”

 

This was the second time he considered running away, but he’d swear it CERTAINLY wasn’t because he was afraid that they’d open the door and end him… especially when he was down on weaponry… he didn't find them _that_ intimidating… of course not. But he still couldn’t answer why he was backing up so much that he almost fell into the pond behind.

 

“Wait, what am I **_doing?”_ **

Brainz shook himself vigorously and clenched his fists.

“Grow a pair, if he was home: he would’ve picked up the mail and the lights would be on…”

 

Back up to the “house” Brainz further neglected the discarded letter by stepping on it, branding it with muddy boot prints. He walked up to the window again and looked for any sign of life inside. But once again, it was too dark to see passed the light coming in from behind him. He sat there and tried to make anything out for a prolonged period of time, getting into such a focus that he neglected the world behind him… up until he heard the sound of a footstep behind him.

 

He jumped up in the air and spun around with a yelp, his heart almost burst out of him. Brainz ran out from the chamber and into the pond room once more, drenched in paranoia and anxiety. But it happened again… no matter how hard he looked, there was nobody there.

 

He growled internally and cringed at himself, forcing his hands into his head to the point of pain.

“RRRrngh! You’re hearing things! Can’t be doing that, not when I need to be careful for REAL things, so just chill…”

 

He kept his vision over his shoulder as he approached the window, seeing nothing but his own lonesome behind: he looked back inside….

This time, a pair of disembodied ruby red eyes met his gaze behind the window.

He screamed in terror and scrambled backwards until he almost crashed into the dummy.

 

He forced himself back up and directed the panic into ferocity, stamping back to the window and…  just an empty house.

Brainz sighed absolutely exasperated, he had to pace around to walk off the frustration: keeping him from harming himself. He began to feel genuine rage bubbling up with his own self as the recipient.

“What did I JUST say?! It’s NOT real! You’re not goddamned CRAZY!! So stop doing this shit, _Goddammit!_

_RRNGH!”_

 

The infuriated growl came with a lone punch careening into the dummy’s unassuming face.

“Losing it, I- am losing it: can’t let them win, can’t let them know.”

 

He’d enough wasting time just to endure more insanity, and with a deep breath: Undyne’s window was destroyed by the knob of his bat. It’d be a small effort to remove all the jagged glass and even so it would be a tight fit, but there was no way he was lockpicking the scary mouth door. But in he went, crawling through one of the desecrated eyes.

“Awhoop.”

 

* * *

 

Instantly, he felt the change in atmosphere: while the climate wasn’t affected much: the air inside felt unbearably heavy. There was something minacious in it, something that was aware of his presence.

He felt it, gnawing at his insides down to the bone: Brainz wasn’t supposed to be here. He could tell from the way his legs trembled restlessly and his hands shook, he wanted to leave. But he’d already passed the point of no return by breaking in, so it may as well have not been for naught.

 

He fought the overbearing darkness with his lighter, it’s meek light kept him tied to his resolve, yet it cast a foreboding orange glow on his surroundings, they in turn: cast a party of easily misjudged shadows and shapes. The silhouettes of wicked monsters and rolling heads, untouchable by you yet they touch your heart and stain it with fear. He began to feel ice running down his veins as they all looked at him. Assuming, judging, pointing, _laughing,_ condemning, **_DAMNING-_ **

 

* * *

 

The shadows were exorcised by a bright presence: Brainz found the light switch. He could put his lighter away along with his rabid imagination: for now he’d see this place for what it really was outside of his fevered delusions.

 

He was... surprised to say the least, but not the typical use of the word. He’d believe what he was feeling at this moment was, “Disappointment” Brainz turned on the lights expecting skeletons dangling in cages or rows of valkyrian weapons and instruments of torture atop tables stained with blood…

 

But what he saw was another sane looking apartment, this one was actually more pleasant looking than the last room he entered. It really wasn’t _that_ bad, if anything it looked _mundane._ That malicious feeling in the air felt a lot less fitting all of a sudden, and he was really confused.

“But… what was with the- the scary fish house, and the freaking eye thing and…”

 

Brainz couldn’t even make a sarcastic quip or comment on it, he’d been derailed so severely from his expectations being _miles_ off course from what he actually got.  

“All of that build up… and this stupid person and…. It’s just a room.”

 

He was having earnest difficulty believing this.

“Is this _really_ that guy’s house? Maybe the letter was returned to sender… no, that wouldn’t explain the _decoration_ outside… that and… hm-”

 

That last part was referring to the ornate looking greatsword that was just leaning against the wall. _That_ was anomalous, but it certainly didn’t fit his expectations, especially when he got a closer look at it.

“This is a fake… it’s ceremonial at best. I wouldn’t wanna use it as a weapon either.”

 

It was probably a conversation piece, something used to impress any impressionable fool who was actually invited to this place.

 

What else was there to look at? The table had a doily with another dead fish embroidered into it… big deal.

“Wait, is that a _doily?_ Sheesh, that’s not effeminate at all.”

Come to think of it, the whole look of the place just threw him off. It just looked so… _girly,_ it was terribly unfitting for the kind of person Undyne set themself out to be.

“Pink polka dotted wallpaper???, Baby blue and cream tiled floors???-”

Then his final verdict.

“-what a **_pussy!”_ **

 

He looked disgusted, like he’d turn green at any second and turn up his nose, this place was just not right. He only changed his expression, seeing a regal looking piano placed in the room.

“Wait, this Undyne is capable of playing music and advanced thoughts outside of squat thrusts and chest bumps? Well fuck me sideways… and here I thought this guy was a gorilla wearing armor… a faggot gorilla.”

 

To be fair though, Brainz never caught a glimpse of what they looked like underneath all that armor, and this piano gave him the impression he’d find some frail looking thing, helpless without their advantage. Again, he just didn’t know, and he’d probably never find out. Shame too, after seeing this place: he was pretty curious to see what lay under that.

 

Was there Anything else to make fun of? The tacky tiled floor could probably give him a headache, and the pink polka dotted wall was nothing short of an eyesore… it really didn’t go good with the kitchen: and certainly didn’t match the sink-

“WATER?!”

 

The unsightly kitchen was pardoned from it’s sin of existing, Brainz bounded over the table and to the sink to press his lips against the tap and spin both of the valves.

It was like drinking molten lava.

 

Brainz did a massive spit take, followed by an agonized yell from his scalded mouth, steam erupted from it and the sink. In his agonized and triggered stupor, a fist slammed down on the countertop, it would ensure that his burnt taste buds were only the start of his misfortune.

Within seconds, a thunderous clattering was heard from aloft: Brainz had only moments to avert his attention from himself to the sound: before an avalanche of metal and tupperware came down upon him. He’d barely begin a yelp or a brace for impact before they smote him, cascading to the floor with deafening percussion.

 (...)

Moments passed without life, barring the last lid rolling and settling to a stop.

 

Suddenly, a battered hand rose from the pile of cooking ware: Brainz emerged from the mess, confused and agitated.

“ _What the_ **_fuck_ ** _was THAT?!”_

He puzzled that furiously as he searched for his weapon amidst the pile, feeling a new generation of bumps and bruises forming all over him. He groaned and rubbed some especially tender spots on his head.

“God- **_dammit!_ ** What _WAS_ that?! Like, _why????”_

 

Brainz instinctively looked again, anxious for another beating, but he’d gotten his answer to his most prominent questions. A traditional ceiling was nonexistent, but instead a straight shot to the curvelike roof over his head. In between however, was a set of rafters: there were a handful of pots and pans still balancing precariously over: ready to fall at any minute.

 

“Are you **_KIDDING_ ** me?! **_ARE- YOU- KID-DING ME?!?”_ **

He thrashed in the mess to free himself and sent some of the clutter away with some aggravated kicks and throws.

“I mean **_really?_ ** Who does this?! Why would you do that?! That’s just **_STUPID!!”_ **

But in the midst of his complaining and moaning about it, he remembered whose house he’d broken into, and it suddenly felt more fitting.

“Of _COURSE._ **_NOW_ ** it makes sense. This makes abso-fucking-lutely all the sense in the world.”

 

To him now, it boiled down to two outcomes. Either Undyne had planned for him to intrude here and set this up as an elaborate yet primitive “Bucket on top of the door” booby trap, or they just stored an absolutely excessive amount of cooking ware: balanced precariously above their head, to all come crashing down come the slightest vibration… for some reason.

Either way… it was stupid, spiteful, and it bit him right in his ass.

 

Brainz stumbled back to the sink, which a curved lid just under the tap converted it into a sprinkler: showering part of the kitchen with hot water. He killed the water and tried adjusting the valves for cold water, this wouldn’t be so successful: being the two handles were branded with an H. This tap had a choice between hot water and scalding hot water, nothing less.

“God I _hate_ this place! I hate it so much, I just-”

He sighed and groaned, a display of just how fed up he was: but it lived a short life as complaining forever wouldn’t be productive. Brainz put a joyless look on and bent over to the faucet.

“Fuck it.”

 

He turned one valve just enough for an ample stream of water, without further burning his insides and swigged the water with desperate gulps. It was anything but refreshing and he began to sweat profusely, but it was running water: and he wasn’t in any position to be picky.

“Ahhhhuughh…. Ohh yeah…”

 

Never a more relieved sigh could be made as he finished and wiped his mouth off, it made so much of a difference, Brainz couldn’t have been more grateful for it. He moaned, from the core of his being.

“Ohhh my goddd… _thank_ goooddddd..”

He just had to take a couple more sips of the precious liquid, feeling something besides horrible coarse dryness in his throat.

“Okay, that’s enough.”

 

He’d drank enough, so much that he almost felt content for a moment, in lieu of something horrible occuring to him for once: it was nice.  

 

But what wasn’t nice was the gnawing hunger that ate away at his insides, it was all alone now: without the accomplice of deathly dehydration, it was harder to ignore. There _was_ another fridge, but Brainz wasn’t too confident in this one.

“Y’know what? I’m fuckin starving to death here: I’m just gonna wing it.”

 

He waded through the mess on the floor and stood before the large ice box. Cycling his fingers, preparing to open it.

“Alright… so what’s it gonna be? A fridge full of lies? Or something even worse?”

Then he muttered one more thing.

“Maybe I’ll find a body wrapped in cellophane… who knows.”

 

The door opened, and Brainz instantly recoiled, shielding himself from what lay within.

“AUuugh Gawd! It’s hot! What the fuck, man?!”

The wave of heat that irradiated out was akin to the heat escaping from an oven.

This wasn’t a refrigerator, because it did the exact _opposite_ of what a refrigerator was supposed to do, this was a transgression against all that stood for preserving foods and chilling drinks. Brainz slammed the door, freeing a straggler frying pan from the rafters with his vibration. He looked to the side for a quick remark, very unamused.

“Y’know… what did I expect?”

 

But he flung the door open again and winced from the heat as he reached in, it wouldn’t matter if everything inside was stagnant, burnt, or rotten: if there were _real,_ then they were _edible._ It was as simple as that. He was still afraid to grab for something, considering nothing looked familiar. It was all a mess of differing brandings and unusual labels, some of them weren’t even in english. But then something stood out, something he _could_ read.

“Cup… of… Noodles.”

Funny… that reminded him of those microwavable instant lunches they had on the surface… because that’s exactly what he was looking at in the fridge. And when it occurred to him, he went _all_ in.

 

“That’s _RAMEN!!!_  Oh my god! Please, GIMME!-”

 

The bat clattered to the ground and his two hands dove in, ignoring risk of touching hot metal: he begged dearly for them to grab something corporeal and real. And no sooner did he do that, that he held the cheap Styrofoam cup in his hands. His joy became palpable too, too much to contain.

“ **_YES!!!-”_ **

He began jumping up and down, just giddy and drunk with happiness.

“- YES YES YES YES YES!!!! THANK YOU!”

Never did he expect a day where holding a fifty cent cup of cheap carbs cause him to jump with joy, never so much that he’d kiss the plastic label that contained it before plunging his hand right through the lid and ripping out the block of hard noodles.

 

It didn’t even cross his mind to prepare them, because that would mean waiting just a bit longer to eat, he flat out ate it raw. It was like chewing on gravel, each bite caused tremors in his head. But he was too busy eating ravenously to care, even about the neglected flavor packet. As he ate, he looked back in the fridge and saw more of the cylindrical life savers, stacked neatly on a shelf.

Not anymore.

 

Brainz snatched as many as his arms could hold and splayed them all out on the countertop. He whipped his head back to the offensive sink responsible for his singed taste buds: he looked at it with a new purpose then looked all through the mess of pots and pans for a suitable container, all while chomping on another raw block.

 

The sink was put on full steaming blast, filling pot with its simmering water. Brainz would empty not one or two, but twice as many cups of noodles into it: followed by every flavor packet he’d neglected into the soup. As it all would cook, Brainz began searching for a spoon to stir it, quite rapidly and clumsily too.

 

There was a drawer just near the sink, he tried it first-”

“Daugh, shit!”

His hands flew away from it, seeing what was inside spooked him. The comment he made earlier on skeletons in cages may had some value after all, being the drawer was up to the brim in bones. To make matters worse, someone had put a pretty red ribbon on all of them, like some kind of trophy. Brainz slammed it back shut, he’d regret opening it.

“I don’t want to know.”

 

There was one more drawer, and Brainz would open this one too, although far more reluctantly. However this one was far less traumatic, being it held the utensils he sought after, spoons, forks, knives… rusty axes and-

“- _Nunchucks?_ Ookay then…”

But Brainz found his spoon and immediately put it to use, he stirred the pot with such intensity: he almost voided the thing of every last drop of liquid, a risk of sending it flying out from the rim. He’d put more effort into agitating this broth than anything he could remember from the night before.  

 

“-Eeeeeeeyyyyyy _AAAH!_ That’s enough!”

The pot was piloted off from the sink, handled by bare hands: they’d flap erratically to shake off the heat when the pot would land. Using the spoon, Brainz embarked on separating the noodles from the mix: returning the near pulverized meal to it’s intended container. It would fill up two of the cups, practically to overflowing. He wouldn’t need the spoon anymore: it went flying, no… his hands did just fine for scooping large amounts of the hot mess into his mouth.

 

Human terms would fall short to describe the nature of the guttural noises he emitted consuming this meal, scooping bite after bite into his mouth like the world was ending. He was just _that_ hungry. He did slow down eventually, when the pang of hunger wasn’t so sharp and agonizing and he near inhaled a bite of noodle mush. Brainz began to laugh in sheer awe of his luck. Still on the fence about actually believing what was happening right now, running water and an actual meal were almost too good to be true.

 

It was like just a small portion of the horror of the world had been taken away from him as he ate. He felt _that_ much better. The hunger must’ve exacerbated all of his existing ailments and injuries, because everything seemed to calm down now: the raging headache lost its frenzy, and his triaged arm didn’t feel so stiff all of a sudden. His back loosened up too, he could actually stand without hunching over so much for once.

 

He felt almost OK, despite the bits of mush that stuck to his facial hair and overgrown stubble. He’d mess with it on and off.

 

As good and unbelievable as this all was, Brainz hadn’t the slightest inkling of doubt or suspicion, and he pushed his amazing luck further by checking out the fridge again for some more food, perhaps dessert. He finished his food at a casual pace as he looked around for anything especially appealing. Eventually he would find something else wrapped in plastic. It was covered in Japanese writing and odd looking artwork, but something actually readable stood out on it, drawn in bold marker.

“ **NO TOUCHING. ESPECIALLY DOGS.”**

 

He gave the request a thought.

“Well, being I’m not a dog, and I care about your needs as much as you do _mine…”_

He tossed the snack baggie over his shoulder and onto the table.

“Might as well have a pick me up for the road ahead… don’t know when I’ll run into more food again… I don’t wanna end up like this again… what else do we got?”

 

The next glaring objects would take his attention. Just hiding behind a bag of  “I don’t know what that is and I’m not going to find out because it smells really bad” he saw a _very_ familiar shape and he lit up all again.

“Oh ho-ho-hoooo!! What is this? Is this what I _think_ it is??”

A family of stout and spherical glass jars, of everything in this place that was familiar: they stood out the most. He’d seen them so many times before, filled with hard cider or moonshine. And it brought one word to mind.

“Alcohol.”

 

He grabbed one, it was a little too warm to hold comfortably in his hand, so he’d place it on the counter to get a look. The translucent liquid inside gave off a vibe pertaining to a type of cider. Unsure if it was the type of cider he was interested in, Brainz popped the top of it and gave it a smell. It almost burnt his nose hairs clean off. It only made him laugh.

“Phewww!! Hooo huuu!  Now _that’s_ potent!”

 

He wasn’t too deluded now, apart from smelling like apple scented gasoline, it flat out _stank._ This could’ve been some seriously fermented cider, helped along from being stored in this heated environment for an undetermined amount of time. And that was assuming that it was just that, and not something completely alien and dare Brainz think: toxic. He’d to need really think it over before actually consider-

 

He took a swig of it, it didn’t go down pleasant at all. It was absolutely disgusting, borderline rancid. It felt like hot slime going down his throat and it left a really sour taste in his mouth, he even stuck out his tongue.

 

“Bleeaugh….. Eh.”

He took another sip of it, it almost made him feel sick to his newly un-shriveled stomach: but that was how it was _supposed_ to be like. It was supposed to suck now, but make everything else suck a little less, at least for a while.

Brainz was about to take another drink of it, and he brought it close to his lips but stopped before the 5th sip.

“Hmm… I better save this for later, don’t wanna get _too_ drunk…. Although, I’m feeling kind of… _good_ already, hmm… I _really_ needed this.”

 

Again he had some difficulty cleaning his face off, his stubble must’ve been acting up.

 

Brainz returned the lid, put it down: and actually grabbed a couple more of them, placing them all on the table alongside his other new belongings. It made him frown once he took a look, there more items than he had pockets. He rubbed his neck, puzzled.

 

“Awh geez… I can’t take all of this, especially not when I gotta lug this thing around.”

The bat clunked down onto the table too, one more item to worry about. Brainz looked down to his makeshift aerosol holder, the soggy duct tape was beginning to give away. It wouldn’t last very long. So that made _two_ more items to worry about, on top of not wishing to leave behind provisions.

“Boy… what am I gonna do? I only have my two hands, can’t fit none of this in my pockets… fuck I wish I had my backpack.”

 

He helped himself to the chair and sat down nonchalantly to think about it, it seemed the fear of time didn’t phase him right now. But as he pondered and buzzed his lips, a new, yet previously neglected element came into his vision.

 

“Hey, haven’t checked that out yet.”

What he was referring to was the door just by the counters, Brainz took now as a time if any: to snoop further, slowly opening the door into another darkness filled space. But the light switch was easily found, and it’d bring everything into sight.

 

* * *

 

“Whoa… oh… _oh…_

Oh…. Oh-kay….”

 

He hadn’t much of a start to say anything, he was internally paused by how awkward he felt. The feeling of trespassing was back with a vengeance, coming with the absolutely distinct impression that he wasn't supposed to be here. He felt open and exposed, like he’d never burglarized someone's private life before: with that execrable scummy sensation.

 

But he finally managed to swallow hard and make words, stilted and delayed.

“Well… I think uhrm… Undyne just _may_ be a girl… this is ummm… _yeah._ ”

 

Human comprehension fell short of describing it once more: the level of exaggeration for how “girly” this room was, it was a sensory overload of cuteish things and _unmentionables._ But in the center of it all, in his regret for opening the door, the most defining aspect of this bedroom was obvious.

“Of all the things they have down here too… why _anime_ of all things???”

His disdain for the media was shown once more. His face scrunched into a disgusted sneer, observing the copious amount of Japanese cultured “contraband” that littered the room.

 

“It was bad enough that this cN be a freaking _woman_ of all things, actually I _hope_ it is at this point. Look at all this shit… this is like a shrine to cartoon porn. It’d be _reallly_ fuckin creepy if this was still a dude, an atomic pedophile.”

And a disrespectful look at a particularly _weird_ looking dress displayed in the middle of the room. It looked like a wedding dress with a tail and cat ears on it. The craftsmanship of the “normal” parts looked very well made, with flowing white ruffles. It made the “jap stuff” look completely unnecessary.

 

“I just don’t understand the appeal of this, putting ears and tails on everything? And the tentacles… and the naked girls… these people have problems… they really do, I did _not_ miss out here.”

 

He just didn’t get it, it never appealed to him.

 

“Hm, what’s this?”

Right above a bed lousy with various plushies, a shadow box boasted it’s contents proudly: an eggplant colored trench coat: its design seemed to imply it was fit for a female to wear it. And the protective casing told Brainz that this must’ve been _important_ to Undyne. He or _she_ must not want anything bad happening to it. There was also something brightly colored on top, Brainz stood up on the bed and grabbed it.

 

“Hm, now _that’s_ peculiar.”

The design of the item matched with the neko obsession that themed the whole room, yet Brainz had a different reception for it. He knew this item well, because it was a weapon. A casted knuckle duster in the shape of a cat’s head. The bright pink color made it quite conspicuous and flashy, yet it’s keychain and mostly two dimensional design made it easy to conceal and carry. In this case, the cat design made it excellent as a weapon: the ears were pointed and primed for stabbing. Brainz tried it on his hand, it fit quite snugly on his fingers and felt strangely empowering to hold.

“Huh… _nice…_ perhaps I’m misjudging your sense of taste: I think I’ll take these for a little test drive, if ya don’t mind.”

 

He smirked, knowing the owner wouldn’t be around to object to this, at least not for now. As for the purple trench coat… Brainz squinted with a thought, really examined the thing…  it looked _pretty_ girly, that was not a color for men. But in the sense of function over fashion, this thing had pockets. There certainly were many of them, they looked like they could hold a fairly large amount, too.

 

Brainz contemplated on the garb for a while, then he left the bedroom but returned shortly after with his bat.

**_*CRASH!!*_ **

The shadow box was vandalized, showering the designer bedsheets with a shower of broken glass, Brainz shamelessly reached in and looted the stylish canvas coat from it’s place. He only widened his eyes more and managed to whistle with an impressed tune.

 

Regardless of who’s coat this actually was, it was a _nice_ coat: completely done in stained leather, the inside was lined with something stubborn yet flexible. Providing beyond adequate protection from the weather and maybe even physical blows. It looked a little rugged, used for sure. Brainz read the tag inside of it and his surprise only sweetened.

“One hundred percent Italian Sheepskin _leather…_ Oahhh sweet jesus. This is a genuine _Aguist Tino_ branded leather, hot damn! This thing is like… eight thousand dollars!-”

 

Then his surprise slumped into a grim realization, and the joy weakened.

“- yeah, this was obviously looted off some other poor bastard who met this crazy bitch… nobody would _ever_ throw this away….”

 

Brainz gave a slightly mournful sigh and he looked at the jacket with an implied sympathy seen very rarely for someone he'd never meet.

“I’m sorry, whoever you were… I hope you didn’t suffer much.”

 

After his condolences, his decision was already cast in stone: even though it looked girly and feminine like: this was Brainz’s the moment he saw the pockets on it. He slyly slipped into it, stretching out his arms just to get a feel.

“Nice…”

 

It felt warm and nice, covering him up and hiding him inside of it. He pulled up the collar and sunk into it some then he gingerly sunk his hands into a pair of pockets, they took up to half of his forearms.

 

“ _Very_ nice.”

He was liking this thing already better than his ratty hoodie, _way_ more comfortable and spacious. Brainz tried to grin widely, but the discomfort around his mouth made him twitchy. He just could not for the life of him, get that _itching_ feeling to go away. He scratched and fussed with it, it was about to drive him crazy all over again. He really hated having facial hair.

 

“Gahck! What is- on my- _face!_ I hate this! What the hell’s the matter?... Lemme see.”

 

A vanity mirror atop a dresser dressed with action figures and various lady things drew his urgent attention, Brainz would approach it.

But something was very wrong…

 

* * *

 

A disgruntled looking criminal peered into the reflective surface, his dark brown hair almost falling into his eyes: concealing a face that could’ve been innocent he was so young, his whole life ahead and already all for nothing. A pair of Christmas colored eyes would look into it, they’d look for the offending morsel stuck to his prickly young stubble. Perhaps he’d have a chuckle for how _silly_ he must’ve looked, some stupid kid wearing a girl’s jacket.

 

But that wasn’t what looked back at him, it was wrong, all _wrong!_

 

This mirror couldn’t have been working right, perhaps it was just a trick. Yet inside of it, he could see the world so perfectly laid out and flipped. A shrine dedicated to sexualized cartoon characters and plush things, broken glass shattered on the floor. A room full of pots and pans just existing through the open door. Everything else was matched… why did it botch Brainz so badly?

 

It got everything wrong… his hair, it wasn’t kept clean…this one was ratty… peppered with streaks of gray and discolour. His hacked up stubble became a full unmanaged beard… it was filthy, stained with tobacco and tarnished by blood. Those eyes… they were marred by bags and stuck with ugly crow’s feet. The red one was practically glowing, and the socket looked like a crater of hurt skin and scarred tissue. It’s bright green sister was sunken and painted black with a bruise.

 

The mouth, hanging agape… it was locked into an expression of horror, like the man had seen a ghost. The smiles lines were as visible as the gaps in his green, receeding teeth, save for one fang… tarnished black.  

 

And the scars… there were more than he could remember. All his face… traversing his eyes, prematurely receding a corner of his torn up lips. Adding to the wrinkles in his cheeks… but none more prominent than the gigantic line curved under his chin: wrapped around his neck, scorched vessels and veins popping from underneath. 

 

The face… the face was the worse part, it was no longer capable of showing innocence. There was nothing left, but the despairing look of a grizzled, grime covered… old man. Robbed of twenty years. His withered, cracked hands brushed over the aged face, feeling the age spots. 

 

_Child?! I am not a freaking child! I’m forty-six years old! Look at me!_

_Kid?! I’m forty-six!_

 

It refused to be ignored for any longer.

 

_I am NOT a kid! I am over FORTY years old,  look at me!_

**_Look at me._ **

**_LOOK AT ME._ **

**_LOOK AT ME!!!!!_ **

 

He finally did, and there was nothing he could do. That young child looking into the mirror…

**Had been dead for twenty years.**

 

Brainz silently looked to his own self one more time… and back to the vision in the glass. The mirror was working fine, because that shriveled up visage of a wasted man? That  _was_ his reflection.

 

It all went red after that.

  
  
  


 


	17. Unsparing Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rɪᴅᴅʟᴇ ᴍᴇ ᴛʜɪs,  
> ᵀ̷ʷ̶ᵉ̸ᵉ̵ᵈ̴ˡ̴ᵉ̵ ̵ᴰ̵ᵉ̴ᵉ̴  
> Rɪᴅᴅʟᴇ ᴍᴇ ᴛʜɪs,  
> ᵀ̴ʷ̵ᵉ̵ᵉ̷ᵈ̷ˡ̶ᵉ̸ ̸ᴰ̴ᵘ̵ᵐ̴
> 
> ᵢf yₒᵤ ₜₕᵢₙₖ wₑ ₐᵣₑ ₐₗᵢᵥₑ,  
> Tʜᴇɴ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ʜᴀʀᴅᴇʀ
> 
>  
> 
> Ａｎｄ Ｉ ｗａｓ ｆａｌｌｉｎｇ，  
> Ｄｏｗｎ  
> Down  
> Dᴏᴡɴ  
> ᴰᵒʷⁿ
> 
>  
> 
> Tʜᴇ ʙʀɪᴅɢᴇs,  
> ᴰᵒʷⁿ
> 
> Tʜᴇ ʙʀɪᴅɢᴇs,  
> ₐᵣₑ  
> B ᵤ ᵣ ₙ ᵢ ̷ ̸ₙ̷ ̴g̶
> 
>  
> 
> ̸͔͘ᴀ̵̡̗̖̱̅̾̚͝ʟ̶̲̭̖̾́͌̄ʟ̴͚̭̪̄ ̵̯͕̽͂̓̀ᴍ̷͎͈̈̇̋ʏ̸̫̮̫̤͚̉͐ ̴͇̑̃̕ꜱ̷̛͖̗͉̑̒̽͜͜ᴏ̶̧̹̂̈̓͒ᴜ̶̨̢̭͓͔̾̆͌͛̈́ʟ̸̗͘.̵̭̹̬̓̿.̵̛̟͇̻̦̺̏͆͠  
> ̸̢͙̐́ᴡ̷̧̉̓͝ɪ̵͔̖͎̝̥̓̄͛̈́ᴛ̶̫͈̲̱̌̎͑̄͝ʜ̸̨̥̚ɪ̸̨̙̈́͊ɴ̸̤̇̇̏͒̾ͅ ̵̝͉͒̑͠ᴍ̴͙̐͛̈́ͅᴇ̶̜̦̳͎̩̒̎̚.̶̠͓̰̄͂̂̀̒.̸̪̙̠͕̳̔̎̆̊̈́  
> ̷̘̔ɪ̶͓͋ꜱ̷̤̯̑̉͂͜ ̵̫̳̞͆̑̇͝ʙ̴̛̳̅ᴜ̷̡̘̝̥̻͋̓̐͋ʀ̵͈͍̫͉̱̿̀ɴ̸̭̹̈ɪ̸̦͍͔̈́ɴ̷̧͎͚̓̓ɢ̵͖̳̊̈́̿͛͝.̸̱̦̓̏͊

The last thing he remembered was plucking shards of glass out from his hands. Not a word or sound was uttered, apart from wincing and grimacing as mirror entrails were separated from his flesh. The shiny remains were splayed all over the floor like reflective confetti amidst the reddened carpet.

 

He wouldn’t be able to tell how long he stood there, as if waiting for the horrible visage to come back: but there was a moment where he finally accepted it wouldn’t be coming back… not to _this_ mirror, but to wait for him at every other one, every reflective surface. Never to lose him, and never to leave him… because he could never escape his reflection, he can't outrun himself.

 

But the mirror still stared at him, at least its bare frame: a face still greeted him. Something crudely drawn, angry eyes: pointed horns and sharp teeth. Done in minimal detail: red, runny finger paint. He’d no recollection to doing it, but his hands begged otherwise: dripping to the floor with spent life.

 

His hands were red again, they were almost soaked: nearly without a speck saved. He tried to wipe them off, but the wounds kept giving, it wasn’t going to stop. It was _his_ blood this time, not a drop of it was innocent… not a drop of it could’ve been saved: it was the only solace he had. But he still couldn’t stand the sight of it, it would only add to how sick he felt right now. They throbbed… it hurt: he could still feel the glass under his skin, dozens of fragments too small to pick out with his ripped fingers and teeth.

 

But it _had_ to stop, he needed to stop it from poisoning everything he touched with his ruination. Keep the nightmare from festering and infecting anymore souls. Spare for the centerpiece of the room:  the white wedding dress piece… it was the first victim to his disease. Partially torn to shreds, save the remains of it marred by bloody hand prints. The mark of a dream, ripped to bloody scraps. He couldn’t have felt less culpable for it, empathetic too. He wouldn’t remember doing it,But the evidence was in his hands one more, the bundle of bloodied rags: torn off from it and now clutched in his grip. Once elegant looking ruffles, something beautiful and hopeful, reduced to makeshift bandages being wrapped around his filthy hands. They partially concealed the tattoos printed on the backs of his hands: a word branded on his skin, a pair of it.

 

**KILL**

Twins, identical on each hand with the exception of an arrow just below the letters. One of them pointed out into the world in front, and the other back into him.

 

It served to remind him, in the worst of situations: when nothing seemed to make sense anymore. He could fall back to the laden truth of the world.

 

**KILL OR BE KILLED.**

 

“I’m sorry.”

From the bleak silence came an apology, detached and isolated: because it didn’t pertain to him, he didn’t deserve one, but someone else did. He could see the red running down his arms, smearing onto the purple coat’s sleeves.  There was a feeling of regret, remorse, guilt that he stood here and desecrated someone’s cherished possession. That their sentiments were all for nothing now. He knew he would never make it right, not here: so this compartmentalized apology was all he could give. He swallowed and apologized again, into the leather being.

“I really am.”

 

He almost wanted to take it off, he didn’t deserve it anymore, he _never_ did. But it was far too late for that, he’d already been through enough to grab it: and it had already been irreversibly corrupted. So there was no sense in doing it now, hindering himself further. What was done, was done.

 

Back into the disarrayed kitchen and living space, there was far less joy in it now. But in its absence, some belated, _familiar_ feelings: they took whatever good he felt inside and crushed it into nothing. His head throbbed again, he could feel the pulsation traveling down to the teeth he still had. The nausea was back, this time with a fear of losing the only nourishment he had, accompanied by blood. But it was all too recognizable, marked by this unappeasable craving for painkillers, downing them with nicotine.

 

ᴬᴺᴰ ᵀᴴᴱ ˢᵀᴵᴿᴿᴵᴺᴳˢ ᵂᴱᴿᴱ ᴮᴬᶜᴷ, ᴰᴬᴺᶜᴵᴺᴳ ᴵᴺˢᴵᴰᴱ ᴼᶠ ᴴᴵˢ ᴴᴱᴬᴰ. ᵀᴴᴱᵞ ᵂᴱᴿᴱ ˢᴼ ᴸᴼᵁᴰ, ᴴᴱ ᶜᴼᵁᴸᴰ ᴬᶜᵀᵁᴬᴸᴸᵞ ᴴᴱᴬᴿ ᵀᴴᴱᴹ ᴼᵁᵀˢᴵᴰᴱ, ᴷᴺᴼᶜᴷᴵᴺᴳ ᴼᴺ ᵀᴴᴱ ᴰᴼᴼᴿ.

 

It wasn’t real, they weren’t real, but he could feel the disease digesting his brain. Cognitive excrement seeping into his eyes, dissolved figments lying and begging for perception.

 

ᴮᵁᵀ ᴴᴱ ˢᴬᵂ ᴵᵀ, ᵀᴴᴱᵞ ᵂᴱᴿᴱ ˢᵀᴬᴿᴵᴺᴳ ᴬᵀ ᴴᴵᴹ ᴬᴳᴬᴵᴺ, ᴾᴼᴵᴺᵀᴵᴺᴳ ᴬᴺᴰ ᴸᴬᵁᴳᴴᴵᴺᴳ ᴬᵀ ᴴᴵᴹ... ᴬ ᴾᴵᵀᴵᶠᵁᴸ ᴼᴸᴰ ᴹᴬᴺ. ᵀᴴᴱ ᴿᴱᴰ ᴱᵞᴱˢ

He couldn’t deny what he saw, peeking in the window: but it wasn’t real, Brainz squinted as hard as he could and held onto his withered face, trying to stave off the stirrings inside. His skin crawled, ants moving through his veins. How they could all come back now of all times was almost as bizarre as how they could’ve went silent for so long. The pain of life without narcotics running inside of him was back, as if it’d woken up along with him from his delusions. He felt the hunger, it caused him to shiver, he had to close up the jacket. It hurt just to _exist._ Brainz desperately craved nicotine, Vicodin, anything to make it go away.

 

There was no stopping it now, he’d fall eventually, going to complete debilitation: a drooling convulsing mess on the floor with tar singing his veins. But for now, there was only one solace: one sliver of mercy, as he wearily stumbled away from this room.

 

The unappealing hard cider greeted him on the table, any precautions he’d before stepping into that damned room were gone, and Brainz snatched the partially empty bottle and finished it off. Giving a sickened wince after the last lukewarm swallow and tossing the glass over his shoulder and onto the floor with an appropriate shattering sound. Right now, alcohol was all he had to null the pain: he only could hope it didn’t assist the feeling of nausea. He stood there, at the table: just looking at everything laid out: Well… he’d be able to carry them all now, so that was nice.

 

But did it really matter? What good would all this do? Survival? All he was doing was prolonging his life, and for what? If anything he would only permit himself to writhe on for longer. Only extending his misery…

 

That _other_ old familiar feeling came back, the bleak one that made him think ahead. The feeling that convinced him to pull out the pistol again, sliding out of his damp pockets: smearing the cast iron with his red prints. Once again, it beckoned him, tantalizing with it’s promises of a quick end. He’d be hard pressed to resist tasting the business end of the short barrel. But in the end, Brainz placed it down onto the table along his other possessions.

 

The resolve to do so came to him. Like his neglected age, it hit him and hijacked his outlook. He wasn’t pushing himself to continue for his own sakes, no… he’d never try for himself. He was only alive, for the sake of someone other than him, regrettably someone who could only rely on him. But he couldn’t end himself now… he couldn’t abandon Flowey like that. In fact-

 

Brainz unhooked the two explosives from his pants and carressed the more explosive one.

-He promised flowey he was going to end Asgore with it.

 

He made a promise, and the thought of breaking it would exceed the horrors of dying. Yet… he still couldn’t shake the desolate feeling that he was never going to see the light of day again. That ultimately, this would be where it ended, somewhere. He couldn’t have been more compliant with that thought though… just so long as it happened after he helped this kid. But for now, he _had_ to hold on. He had a purpose again, a reason to still exist.

 

So he went back to his plan, and emptied the rest of his pockets onto the table for an inventory check.

 

Repurposed carpentry tools, a decorative knuckle duster, a dragon in a can, his suicide gun, two grenades: one for stunning and one for destroying, a bag of japanese chips for the road, and 3 bottles of hard “cider”

 

He backed away from the table and was forced to return to the cursed room, being short one murderous baseball bat. He found it rolled underneath the dresser: it was already smeared with red fingerprints all over it, up to the dome too, oddly enough though… there was another strip of fabric: wrapped around the end of it. Perhaps the extent of damage to his hand was from handling the sharp and pointy end of the weapon, but why?

 

ᴮᵁᵀ ᴴᴱ ᵂᴬˢᴺ'ᵀ ᴳᴼᴵᴺᴳ ᵀᴼ ᴬˢᴷ ᵂᴴᵞ ᵀᴴᴱ ᴿᴱᴰ ᴴᵁᴳᴳᴱᴰ ᴵᵀ ˢᴼ, ᴺᴼᵀᴴᴵᴺᴳ ᴹᴬᴰᴱ ˢᴱᴺˢᴱ ᴼᵁᵀˢᴵᴰᴱ ᴼᶠ ᵀᴴᴱ ᴿᴱᴰ ᴵᴺ ᴴᴵˢ ˢᴼᵁᴸ.

 

A hard pulsation crunched the backsides of his bad eye, so much he felt the throbbing “pop” through his ear, and doubled over clutching it for a moment: locked in pain. The pulsation would subside, at least to a manageable level. He would take this as a reminder to see if the world wasn’t so red and monochrome with this eye. Or if it was even visible at all… if the vision from it was lost with his delusion.

 

As it took precedence for sight, the other one closing: he still found himself in a world of shadows accompanying red. But this was the only familiarity he had… because it was all wrong now.

 

ᵀᴴᴱ ᴿᴱᴰ ᴴᴬᴰ ᴳᴼᵀᵀᴱᴺ ᴿᴱᴰᴰᴱᴿ, ᴿᴱᴰᴰᴱᴿ ᵀᴴᴬᴺ ᴸᴵᶠᴱ. ᴱᴵᵀᴴᴱᴿ ᵂᴬᵞ ᴴᴱ ᶜᴼᵁᴸᴰ ˢᴱᴱ, ᴴᴱ ᵂᴬˢ ˢᴱᴱᴵᴺᴳ ᴿᴱᴰ. ᴴᴼᵀᵀᴱᴿ ᵀᴴᴬᴺ ᶠᴵᴿᴱ, ᴴᴼᵀᵀᴱᴿ ᵀᴴᴬᴺ ᴸᴬᵛᴬ, ᴵᵀ ᴿᴬᴰᴵᴬᵀᴱᴰ ᵂᴵᵀᴴ ᴬ ᵛᴱᴺᴳᴱᴬᴺᶜᴱ.

 

Apart from every shade of red on him nearly blinding him, becoming more bright and salient than ever before… it wasn’t the _only_ thing that eye could see. Because he soon discovered, or failed to notice the right side of his nose blocking half of his view come both eyes open. He was binocular again. The red eye was fully functional… _mostly…_ the world seemed a touch muted, colours losing their luster… _except RED._ But the eye worked.

 

There wouldn’t be any sense of it, he couldn’t afford to try: not when he was so mentally _damaged_ already. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t obsess.

 

ᴰᴵᴰ ᵀᴴᴱ ᵀᴿᴬᵁᴹᴬ ᶠᴵˣ ᴵᵀ? ᴼᴿ ᴴᴬˢ ᴵᵀ ᴬᴸᴸ ᴮᴱᴱᴺ ᴵᴺ ᵞᴼᵁᴿ ᴴᴱᴬᴰ, ᵞᴼᵁ'ᵛᴱ ᴬᴸᵂᴬᵞˢ ᴮᴱᴱᴺ ᴬᴮᴸᴱ ᵀᴼ ˢᴱᴱ ᴵᵀ. ᴮᵁᵀ ᵞᴼᵁ ᵂᴱᴿᴱ ᵀᴼᴼ ᴮᴸᴵᴺᴰ ᴵᴺ ᵞᴼᵁᴿ ˢᴵᶜᴷ ᶠᴬᴺᵀᴬˢᵞ, ᴵᵀ ᴾᴬᴿᵀᴵᴬᴸᴸᵞ ᴮᴸᴵᴺᴰᴱᴰ ᵞᴼᵁ... ᴴᴼᵂ ᴸᴼᴺᴳ ᴴᴬˢ ᵀᴴᴵˢ ᴳᴼᴺᴱ ᴼᴺ? ᴴᴼᵂ ᴸᴼᴺᴳ ᶜᴬᴺ ᵞᴼᵁ?

 

He couldn’t silence a sneaking sensation that he sought a mirror, just to see what the eye actually looked like. It tried to overshadow the horror inflicted on him from the last mirror. Right now though, at least he had two working eyes… it could only help. But why now? Why here? Why...

 

ᴹᵞ ᴴᴱᴬᴰ... ᴵᵀ ᴴᵁᴿᵀˢ.

 

The migraine took him again… he could feel it in his face, and how it dripped out of his nose: redder than ever. He went to stop it with his hands, and only realized the blunder by seeing more red falling onto his flesh. This room was causing severe blood loss, and he couldn’t afford to go into shock, his body nor mind could handle anymore trauma. In fact, he desperately looked for something menial to take his attention, looking back at the desecrated mirror: he noticed an unusual looking letter placed gently before it, only lightly touched with his own blood. It was obviously personal: judging where it was stored and the big heart on the fold. It looked like it meant alot to someone. Reading it would definitely be a gross invasion of privacy.

He took it and opened it up, it was odd considering he found it in _this_ house of all places. The handwriting was all in pretty curves and dotted with hearts. It definitely Belonged to Undyne, judging by the signature at the bottom… but it was supposed to belong to a “Dr Alphys”. It was a _love_ letter…

 

Actually… the more he read it the less it seemed like a love letter, and more something far less innocent. In fact, it actually gave an insight on how similar these monsters were to people, but not in a good way.

“Ew.”

 

He got what he wanted at least, he wouldn’t be able to stop visualizing some of the more “descriptive” parts of the letter, he was disturbed in a lighter fashion and he felt bad for this “Alphys” Brainz decided he was going to take this with him, and folded it up and stowed it away in his pocket, after trying to wipe some of his nose blood off. He had to take care of that still.

 

Back to the sink, and it came back to life: spouting hot water, partially with steam. It was just as uncomfortable as the first time, more so that he wasn’t drinking it but trying to rinse his wounded hands. It was terribly painful, the many cuts cried out from the burning water with pain. It would be worth it though, just to scrub it all off, watching the red polluted water fall down the drain and away from him. And only after splashing it onto his lips to clean the bloody nose, would Brainz dare to consider a mirror again. Feeling the warm dripping off of his newly recognized beard.

 

The carpenter’s knife was flicked open, and put right to use, one wet hand on it’s handle and the other able tug on the scraggly hairs growing from his chin. He began sawing at it, cutting large tufts of graying hair, uneven and uncomfortably. As much as he could, no consideration for looks, he just wanted it gone. He didn’t want to see himself like that again. He had to stop eventually, the knife wouldn’t be able to manage any shorter without pain, it left a unfinished hack job on his face, albeit much shorter. The remains of it, clumping up in the sink.

 

Brainz remembered something about this counter, it occurred to him again: the existence of a kitchen drawer full of weapons. He opened it up again and scrutinized the contents, looking to add to his arsenal given he had better carrying capacity now. However, it didn't do much for him except disappoint when he discovered that like this large ornate sword Undyne kept by the table.... these weapons were fake. He could tell by the way they felt, being he had experience with this sort of thing: it was half of his life knowing how to judge weapons. The durability was questionable, and not in the good way: these were just for show... they were not worth taking. The drawer was closed up.

Back to the table, for real this time, there wasn’t much left to do: there was really nothing else he _could_ do. So he began to pack up, finding new homes and pockets for his things, easily done with this tarnished coat. The cider bottles would be the hardest to stash, their difficulty would put how efficient they were to question. How much alcohol would he really need to drink? To risk it breaking in his pocket or clinking around.

 

“Wait…”

He had to ask himself to do so, to stop unloading the bottles back onto the table, to hold the last one… and to bring up the last of the fabric he’d shoved into a pocket, the bits he didn’t need to staunch blood flow, not  _now_ at least. They were reddened already from holding them, but an idea was considered. He opened the bottle, just to get a whiff: wincing at the sharp smell… it burned his nostrils, and he recalled it smelled like apple flavored gasoline.

 

He really thought about it now: there was just something peculiar about how this all added up, the bottle, the taste, and the hostile smell. He could feel it in his wrinkled face: the last time he looked at such a bottle like this, with such a dubious feeling.

* * *

 

There was a twinge in his arm, it took him off of the ornate design for just a moment: so long though, that when he looked back, it was all but gone. But the bright flare caught his eye, he could see it, tied to a dragon spinning through the air, glowing against a black velvet sky. Cinnamon whiskey, half of it making its way to his brain and the other sloshing in the air before the bottle shattered against the car, bursting into flames. It was so loud and violent, the flames swallowed the vehicle and everyone inside. They screamed in terror and agony, it never stopped: even as the fire took them, he could hear the pain over the sound of crumbling metal and bursting tires. He burned them alive just like that, and all it took was a bottle of something that smelled like gasoline, a rag and a lighter-

* * *

 

He flicked the lighter closed, just before it could ignite the fabric in his hand, just inches away from introducing hell to his flesh, back under a roof and back to a disheveled kitchen. In his grip lay the very seed of the malice that had struck him. The rag, stuffed into the bottle: soaked with the flammable liquid: Brainz had recreated a piece that resonated his past. A grenade when you had nothing left, a molotov cocktail. He couldn’t remember building the first one that lay in his hand, but it didn’t stop him from weaponizing the rest of the alcohol.

 

It was almost a waste, depriving himself of a way to nullify it all, but when he had a reason to keep going: inebriating himself would never help, better he set someone on fire than to quell the fire in his insides. Three poor man’s grenades went into his generous pockets, and the bat was slung over his shoulder. A head full of malevolence and a coat full of weapons: Brainz set out and left the disheveled home.

Squeezing through the window was more difficult this time with the extra bulk on him, brushing himself off and picking up his weapon again: he didn’t wish to attempt to open the mouth door, lest he lose a hand. So he’d simply wish Undyne lived in a normal house, like a _normal_ person. But she wasn’t people, none of them were, and Brainz would have to take one last look at what his life was now: turning around to face the disgusting house. Like his own reflection, repulsive and horrible, yet it wanted him to look at it: it almost demanded so.

 

But when he thought about his life again...that feeling began to creep up his back, cold and slimy. He knew not what it was, but only why it was happening now: and he _really_ didn’t want to look back at the house. But when it reached his head, he was forced to face it and there it was. He regretted opening his eyes, but it was inevitable. 

* * *

 

There it was again… _that_ house, the one that glared at him with all the hatred he’d given it, assuming and condemning. It refused to lay in silence, the screaming would rise again: but not from the damned home, they were behind him again. The sirens were a bad conscience, they were coming for him and were almost there. Their lights would soon gleam off of the broken windows with strobing urgency. He had to run away, but he couldn’t… the house didn’t _want_ him to leave, it was going to hold him there until they came. He had to see them, the Halloween decorations in the windows, the toys and playthings innocently left on the lawn, and the chalk. The colors, all sporadic and mixed: picked randomly and playfully out of the box, they ran up the entire driveway even under the shadows of sleeping vehicles. Every Time he came to this place, the house was spared change, not even an iota: but the chalk… it was always different. This time, it begged for help.

 

_MOM, DAD, HELP ME: I’M SO SCARED._

_MOM, DAD, HELP ME: I’M SO SCARED._

_MOM, DAD, HELP ME: I’M SO SCARED._

_MOM, DAD, HELP ME: I’M SO SCARED._

_I’M SCARED_

_I’M SCARED_

_HELP ME_

_HELP ME_

_HELP ME_

_HELP ME_

  
No matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried to forget it. There was nothing he could do... they were dead. The truth of this wouldn't stop, not now, not ever. He would always find himself standing before this house, every time he let his guard down. He was in hell.

* * *

 

 

Brainz's yells of agony overshadowed the wailing chaos, his clenched eyelids shunned out the world, and his arm dove for one of his newly made weapons. Lighter and all: Brainz felt the heat climbing up the makeshift fuse and growing: before throwing it as hard as he could in the direction of the home. He only opened his eyes and quelled his yelling when he could hear the distinct noise of shattering glass and the birth of an inferno.

 

The grotesque monster home was back, illuminated by a blanket of flames. The molotov struck the edge of the desecrated window and spread its disease on both sides. It was hungry and relentless, gnawing on the very carcass as it grew in size and heat.

 

It had happened again, Brainz wasn’t lost for a moment and knew exactly where he was… where he was back to the day it happened. It was too much for him to handle, and this time: it cost him one of his new weapons, his lifelines… but it didn’t matter, it _had_ to stop. He had to kill it, that memory had to die, he wanted to destroy it. He’d only push it away for now, but at least he accomplished something else: watching the flames consume the wicked home… never turning his head away or blinking.

 

As it began to char and blacken, flames being the sole occupant now: from the window he’d left spared… he could see liquid seeping out… as if a final tear drop shed from a living being, life expiring. He couldn’t look away… away from the visage of a crying face being burned alive. But in his struggle to fight his memory, he remembered something… and gave his excuse to the home… unsure if it could listen, unsure if he could care less… or collapse onto the ground sobbing. Whether his own demons made him do it, or he really wanted to get back at her… Undyne's home cried as it burned, staring at him with that accusing look.

 

So many things rushed for him, horrid thoughts and plagued ideas. It could’ve been truly alive and he had been _inside_ of it, gallivanting its insides and desecrating it, like he’d done for his own so long ago. This could’ve been an act of mercy, freeing it from an existence like this…  but why would it necessarily need to be freed? Nothing made sense anymore, everything was raw and cold. But the only fact he took, was that it was crying at him… trying to guilt trip him like everyone else, they were all in on it.  

 

“Stop… don’t give me that, you know what you did… you fucking deserve this.”

 

The flame ridden place couldn’t argue with him vocally, but the inexplicable teardrop would serve to counter anything he could think of, it got to him and he began to feel restless again. Just tired and bitter, old… worn out. He didn’t even know if he was speaking to the home he destroyed, or Undyne who he just made homeless. It made him do it, it forced him to do it.

It made him recede into his head, it made him go back to that cursed place… for that it had to be punished.

“This is what happens… this is what happens when you- I… I didn’t _want_ to-”

 

He tried to think of something to justify himself, but he couldn’t… all he could do was watch it burn… it was the culmination of his every move… all he could do was take and destroy. Nothing could ever be saved… no one ever spared. He finally took his eyes off of the blaze and caressed them with a scratchy bandaged hand, sighing: still laden with depression, it wasn’t going to leave him for a long time.

 

He looked away from it… it was too late to realize it was a mistake, not before he heard it.

 

* * *

 

  
“ _HEY!!”_

 

Brainz lurched away from the blazing building, in a newfound panic, terrified to atone to something living. As if it were the only entity with a voice, sounding angry that he set it on fire. He stumbled to get to a response.

“Wait, **_WHAT?!_ **   Is that **_you?!_ ** _”_

 

The voice was all around him, he couldn’t tell where it sourced from, and he was answered quite acerbically. The structure was inanimate, not minding the flames eating it: but the voice was right back to him.

“Well, _duh!_ Of _course_ it’s me! Who _else_ would I be?!”

 

Brainz felt a shiver that quaked him down to his core, he felt something grabbing at his throat from inside as he trembled with shock. Not only was this monstrosity living, and not only was he inside of it for a period of time, _not only_ did he set it on fire… but all he seemed to do was piss it off, like being immolated was just an irritation for the home.

 

Brainz went defensive, he needed to be angry: just to keep from running away yelling. He twitched and clenched his one fist, and rasped out.

“Well what the _FUCK,_ man?! You’re goddamned alive, why’d you wait until now?! The hell was _I_ supposed to know?! I was inside you for like… I don’t know, an _hour_ maybe… and don’t even think that’s dirty, you know what  I’m fucking talking about!”

 

It was a fight now, both sides yelling and going to outdo each other in volume and aggressiveness. The “house” took his retort very wrong, and sounded outraged.

“ _What?!_ Inside of me? What are you- “

Then Brainz heard an exasperated scoff.

“-I’m not the house, you _dummy!”_

 

 

Brainz tried to push his voice as hard as he could, straining his tired lungs: yelling to the stalactites above. His frustration echoing throughout.

“Then _WHAT_ **_ARE_ ** _YOU!!??!”_

“Behind you!”

Brainz was already frantically looking around by this point. He’d already found his potential guest: it made the response redundant yet appropriate.

 

Standing right behind him, in his shadow blocking the yellow glow from the inferno, the “inanimate” training dummy had moved from its mat, and sprouted a pair of irate eyeballs and an orange tint.

 

It put some of his anxieties aside, and brought up some new ones that came in the form of more exasperation. This thing made no sense, felt unnecessary, and seemed to serve as a way to question his failing mental integrity. In other words, it was just like _everything_ else that beset him down here. He may have been older than he realized now, but some things never changed, and his reactions certainly weren’t either.

 

Brainz restarted his voice back to a mildly angered level, being he was hacking on and off. He started by partially reinstating his argument against the actually inanimate house.

“Okay… you’re actually alive, why’d you wait until _now_ to show me??”

 

The thing began to talk, and Brainz could see an actual mouth with teeth developing on the end of its nose? Head? It was almost as grotesque as the house just behind them, but even as it made him scrunch his face in disgust. He thought of something else and slowly wound down from his panic. It cut the thing off from talking in the end. The unabashed attitude would serve to make this more irritating as Brainz sounded much less intimidated than he first was.

“Actually, why _are_ you alive anyway? Your sole purpose is to let people beat the sloppy shit out of you… that’s gotta suck… I mean that’s kind of _my_ existence right now… but not literally like you, I mean come on. Do you hate your life too?”

 

It waited rather _patiently_ after he finished this time before trying to speak again, burying its aggravation. Unfortunately, this wasn’t long enough because Brainz spoke up again as it opened its faux mouth. Scoring a frustrated growl, which he ignored completely and disrespectfully.

“Y’know what? No. I have my own problems. I’m _really_ not in the mood to deal with this shit. I really don’t w-”

 

It didn’t let him continue and demanded the opportunity to speak, its whole body seemed to stretch and contort as if held together by elastic. It really looked unsettling.

“Stop talking!!! I am _NOT_ a dummy! I am-”

 

Brainz, sounding as uninterested and unamused as he could: slouched and casually interrupted again.

“What are you then? A sex doll?”

 

The thing almost bounced off of its stand, it convulsed angrily.

“ **_OOO-_ ** So _arrogant!!_

 **_I…_ ** am a ghost that lives _INSIDE_ a dummy! It’s **_Completely_ ** different than-”

 

With the amount of anger and energy in its growling voice, it was surprising it let itself get cut off again by how casually boorish and sarcastic he sounded. Brainz rolled his eyes and sighed, then feigned surprise with no energy in his voice at all.

 

“Ooooh… of _cooourrse_ you’re a ghost, and you’re just _possessing_ a dummy silly me. I should’ve known better… please forgive me…-”

He took a moment to press his lips together and nod sarcastically, the aforementioned ghost tried to yell at him, but Brainz cut it off, loudly this time and even holding up his free hand.

“-Ah bub-bup bup bup… before you start. I’d like to know then, if you _are_ a ghost or whatever.Would you happen to be related to that dipshit back there?-”

 

He was referring to the terribly skittish apparition that interrupted his conversation with Flowey back at the dump. The one he scorned and chased away.

“-y’know, the trope halloween decor that you can buy at any pharmacy in fall?  Although I have the strangest feeling, you’re just the same thing.. But I really don’t know about that, cuz… that guy kinda sounded like a real _pussy._ Kind of a blowover… but that aside, that would make you the motherfucker who’s been following me around and playing tricks with my head… I haven’t really-”

 

Without warning, and possibility it could look any angrier: the dummy roared at him. Segments of it detaching and nearly striking him before resetting back to position, some stuffing flew out and fell like snowflakes around the room.

“ **_STOP INTERRUPTING ME!!!!_ ** ”

Brainz had to step back, he felt his grip tighten on his bat, the maddened dummy spouted insane ramblings as its body contorted and shifted into impossible formations.

“You humans are the worst! But **_you…_ ** you’re the _worst_ of the **worst!”**

 

That wasn’t the first time he heard that being thrown at him, but by other humans. Hearing it from something related to _this_ place was actually insulting. Brainz was actually offended and the comeback was inevitable no matter how angry he was going to make this thing.

“ _Hey!_ Fuck off! You aren’t a walk in the park yourselves! You guys are ASSHOLES! And that’s coming from _me!.”_

 

The dummy shifted its eyes and twisted its body around, the voice seemed to “twist” as well: a counter to  the comback.

“Oh _reeeally????_ We’re bad? Is that what you think?”

 

It was rhetorical, but Brainz was sure to answer it anyway, snarling.

“ _Yes!_ You are! Especially that boney midget motherfucker and _ESPECIALLY_ the **_BITCH_ ** that used to here!”

He assertively pointed the business end of the bat at Undyne’s politely blazing house, the dummy took a glance then shifted its eyes even further.

 

“ _HMMMM_ lets have a look at _you!_ You think you’re so much better than us.”

 

Brainz lowered his voice for a quick retort and a raised brow.

“I never said that, but-”

 

He wasn’t allowed to interrupt this time.

“ **_SHUT UP!_ **

But _HMMMMM_ now, let’s see… everyone was fine enough, living their own lives. UNTIL YOU SHOWED UP!! When you invited yourself down here, everyone thought you were gonna be special. They thought there were finally in for a nice time. But the things you DID… !

HORRIBLE!!  
SHOCKING!!!

UNBELIEVABLE!!!

You’ve spooked everyone right out of their minds!”

 

Brainz’s face soured more, he felt like he was about to bash this thing over the head with its own words and and accusations. But then it shifted towards him and kept the ranting up.

“But _worst_ of all. You moseyed your way over here, decided I was just another defenseless fool for you to beat up at your leisure, you broke into this house: helped yourself to everything inside. Then _set it on FIRE!-”_

The rage in its voice sloped dramatically, Brainz could see the large seams on it ready to burst from the stress.

“- but the absolute _WORST_ of the _WORST_ of ALL??!

**YOU**

**RUINED**

**MY**

**MAIL!!!”**

 

Brainz almost choked on his derailment from being angry, after he sputtered and coughed internally. He replied to that particular gripe quite unceremoniously: mostly to ensure he wasn’t having another episode.

“I’m sorry: what was that?”

 

It jerked its head at him, trying to nod him to turn around.

“ _LOOK!”_

 

He hesitated to take his eyesight off of the irate thing, but a couple of glances saw a patiently waiting dummy, unlikely to hit him in the back. So Brainz did what he was asked and looked into the fire the most he could, shielding his eyes from the bright glow and looking around… the large teardrop was still present: giving the house that “victimized” look. Brainz would really wish this house would just crumble to the ground already, it was making him feel guilty… for _Undyne_ of all things. It wasn’t right.

“ _Doown…”_

Brainz was taking too long, and the Dummy gave him a condescending hint, they continued to patronize him as he slowly looked down.

“- _yeeeeaaah,_ that’s it. Good job, human!”

 

Just in front of the unused mouth door, on top of a smoldering doormat, he could see a pile of letters perfectly preserved yet completely swallowed by flames.  Apparently, existing as a means to be beaten up outside of someone’s home, counted as living there: or least a mailing address.

 

Brainz turned to face the dummy again, as slowly as he could manage: filled with contempt.

“Your _mail?”_

 

He didn’t get an answer, only a snub looking face trying to force shame or atonement to him. This was becoming pretty unbelievable, in the normal way down here.

“You’re mad at me… because I burned your _mail?”_

 

The dummy jumped up, giddy with fury.

“ _YES!!_ And now, for that: I’m going to spook your soul, right out of your body!”

It began to levitate following that threat, turning darker shades of red and even emitting small clouds of stuffing like steam.

 

Brainz was only taken back slightly by the advancements in aggressive gestures, he was more concerned with how infuriatingly measly all this trouble was.

“Oh come _on, dude! Really?!_ You’re acting all on the moral high ground about me, but you’re just pissy because I ruined your stupid _mail?!_ Are you fucking kidding me?”

 

It only rose higher and more menacing, leading Brainz to grouse, sounding just as furious as the dummy.

“ _REALLY??_ How was I supposed to know?! It’s _JUST MAIL!!!_ I’ve done a hella worse so far, and you’re going to kill me over JUNK MAIL?!? Of all the _stupid. Retarded, Festering_ **_BULLSHIT._ ** You’re _REALLY_ gonna do this?!”

  
To answer that, the dummy levitated and landed just in the narrow passage to leave, blocking the way. It didn’t seem up for further conversation.Brainz growled.

“Okay, _FINE!_ I guess we’re doing this then! Let’s go!”

 

[No one is happy with this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ_H-_NI4SU)

 

 

Brainz twirled his bat off the ground and got it into a slugging grip, and for once: he made the first move and barreled into a death charge, swinging madly and aiming for heads.

 

But just as he would see stuffing fly, the dummy grinned: and out of the ground just at it stand, a group of white shapes began to manifest and multiply. Brainz was utterly stopped and retreated in quick bewilderment. He didn’t want to be within reach of whatever it was doing. The dummy laughed at him and jeered.

“Futile, futile, FUTILE!”

 

Brainz watched disgustedly as they took form, resulting in a small army of miniature likenesses of the dummy.

“Dude, _Ew!_ What… do you reproduce by budding or something?! What the actual fuck??”

 

It didn’t seem up for conversation and simply went on with spouting something insanely random.

“I’m gonna take you down, and your SOUL will be mine!”

 

All Brainz did was exclaim something appropriate to how bewildered he was feeling.

“ _WHAT?!_ What are you-”

 

He didn’t get to finish shouting panickedly when all of the miniature dummies spat a wave of projectiles at him. He couldn’t even make out what they were, above a threat that needed an immediate reaction. Brainz braced for the blows, employing his weapon to protect him. When they hit him, it felt like sharp stones being thrown onto bare skin. He spasmed and twitched wildly as they hit him, trying to block his face and more delicate parts.

“OW! What the fu- Ow! Fuck! Awh! Jesus Christ! Augh! What the hell are- _OW!_ God _damn_ it!”

 

When the barrage finished, he opened up out of his protective pose and threw out his arms and shouted desperately at the thing and its clones.

“Man, what’s your _PROBLEM??!!”_

 

Once again, trying to talk with it wasn’t wise: it really wasn’t up for conversation and it continued with its own speech.

“I’m going to use your SOUL to cross the barrier!”

 

This time, Brainz beyond bewildered to the point of nulling his sanity: was able to react while another barrage came his way.

“What are you _TALKING_ about?!?! Jesus!! WHY is everyone- _Ga-oW!!-_ More nuts than _me!?_ This is so fucked!! What barrier?! What about my soul?? What _wrong_ with you people!?”

 

As per usual, his cries for an answer fell to deaf ears and the dummy continued in their psycho babble, preempting another attack.

“And then, I’ll _finally_ stand in the window of a fancy store!”

 

Brainz was about to prepare for another round of hits, but he managed to get a clear look through his barring hands, he could _see_ what was flying for him this time. They looked like balls of stuffing, even traveling at a surprisingly slow rate given the air density. They really didn’t look threatening at all. He aborted the brace for impact and just let them hit him.

 

Brainz couldn’t even _feel_ them hitting him, they simply bounced off of his jacket and fell to the ground with a lame lack of sound of impact. It was actually kind of pathetic. All of a sudden, he felt much less panicked, skeptical even: so much that he had something less than loud to say about this, raising a brow.

“Huh? Really? Are you throwing cotton balls at me? Is that what this is?”

 

The dummy was surprisingly stockstill for this, even as Brainz bent over and picked one up. It was definitely a ball of stuffing: as soft and unthreatening as it could possibly be. It seemed to disintegrate once it touched his red hands though: he brushed them off and went back to being himself without the excitement.

 

The dummy stared at him, seemingly in a moment of awe. But it was back to flailing around and floating, trying to keep up the normalcy of its lunatic ramblings.

“Euuhm…”

It slipped for a moment.

“I’LL GET EVERYTHING I WANT WHEN I’M DONE WITH YOU!”

 

The audacity in the voice was stronger, like it was trying harder than the last threats, and with this shout came another wave of cotton balls. Brainz didn’t even move, he just watched them fail to do any damage to him.

“Uhhh.. huh… yeah… I’m not sure why I thought this was hurting before. Guess you really had me going for a bit, I guess…”

 

In this moment, Brainz remembered how to laugh, at least to scoff disrespectfully, and then to show those rotten teeth with a wry smile.

“Wow, I almost fucked you up royally! I mistook you for an actual threat.”

 

There it was again, the dummy had this look on its face: like it’d just witnessed the most horrifying sight just for a moment and didn’t know how to comprehend it. It was only for a glimpse as whatever it was turned into anger. It growled furiously at Brainz, but then turned to its “minions”.

“You dummies… remember how I said I wanted to defeat him and take his SOUL??

FAILURES.

YOU ALL FAIL.

YOU’RE FIRED

FIRED, FIRED, FIRED!”

 

It erupted into ugly laughter, its pieces flying around wildly. As it cackled, the miniature dummies retreated, seemingly into the ground and walls: phasing right through solid matter. Brainz was more concerned with why it found this to be funny, hilarious even. He just watched and waited. It finally opened its mouth, and for once: sparking conversation.

“You wanna see something, you think you’re so good? Well why don’t you witness my TRUE power!”

 

Ending that with a smug grin. Unfortunately for this antagonist, Brainz was far passed being intimidated by it, so it didn’t do much to frighten him or intrigue. In fact, this was starting to drag on to him, he was losing his patience. Regardless, he moved this silliness along and answered as reluctantly tired as he could.

“Your true power?”

 

It barely received the tone behind him, and continued to laugh indulgently.

“Hahaha! That’s right! You wanna know what it is??”

 

This was just becoming plain annoying now, it was practically fishing for a complement: food for a sense of ego. Brainz really wouldn’t have a choice but to give it what it wanted and go along with this. Just for the sake of getting this over with. He had better things to do. He sighed and supported himself on his bat like a pole.

“Ok, what?”

 

It couldn’t have sounded anymore excited with the reveal of this “true power” It loudly announced it for all to hear and for Brainz to roll his eyes at.

“Relying on people who * _aren’t*_ garbage!!!”

 

Brainz was going to begrudgingly ask how that was going to happen, but before he’d get that far. He began to hear a sound of mechanical nature, the distinct percussion of mechanical parts clicking against each other. He squinted and leant over to hear better, over the sound of flames: perhaps a feeling of anxiety could come back.

“What are you doing, _now?_?”

 

Brainz received his answer, a new procession of minions materialized all around the dummy, looking far less like crude miniatures and more like robots. Actually, the size of them deprived them of such an intimidating title: Brainz had something else in mind as he observed. He pointed and called it out, amused.

“Whoa… Those look like windup toys!”

 

It was back to the formula of ignoring him or at least just failing to acknowledge him. The dummy shouted with fury.

“Dummy bots, ATTACK!”

 

To be fair, Brainz was a trifle concerned: for a moment at the least. Then he saw what counted as an attack. A barrage of rocket propelled missiles. Nevermind the logic and lack of reality: The mere design was the only intimidating thing about them to him. They were _miniscule._ That and they were traveling at what couldn’t have been more than two miles per hour. He was confused.

“Uhhmm.?”

Brainz made an unhurried move to get out of the way, but to his genuine mystique: they followed him and all of them would hit their target, him. Needless to say though, he didn’t expect much for what would happen. All of them struck his vibrant jacket and exploded, but at their size it was more like a gentle pop. More akin to a popcorn kernel, or maybe a firecracker exploding in his hand… if he were wearing oven mitts. They didn’t do anything for damage, but they impressed him. He lightened a bit.

“Hey… how’d you do that? That mighta tickled."

 

The dummy was just flabbergasted, _this_ was the reaction their “True Power” received. No sign of damage, demise, or even _fear!_ Brainz just brushed it off like it was nothing! He couldn’t have handled it more nonchalantly, the dummy would’ve preferred his older attitude of yelling profanities! This was just insulting. It just stared at him with a detached jaw and widened eyes. No… it wouldn’t give up so easily.

“RRRGH.

Dummy bots, TRY AGAIN!!”

 

It shouted another command and the miniatures obeyed, a larger array of tiny rockets were sent Brainz’s way and they earned identical results. Except he actually took the action of brushing some of the schmutz off of his coat afterwards. Disrespectfully unscathed: but curious and casual.

“Like, I’ve never seen such a tiny rocket, let alone one that goes so _slow!_ This goes against everything we know about rocket propulsion and combustion! Not to mention they have heat seeking! Man the electronics must be microscopic! That’s actually kind of neat... even though they suck."

 

It took the compliment horribly wrong and growled ferociously.

“ **_AGAIN!!!!”_ **

 

The same thing happened, no effect at all. Brainz just took all of it without so much as flinching. In fact, he took a few steps closer to the spazzing dummy, just for a closer look. The thing seemed like it was fitting to explode, it sounded so pent up and angry. Earlier, Brainz had nothing but contempt for it: there was plenty of that here: but it didn’t mean he couldn’t give his insight. How considerate.

“Just stop, you’re gonna burst a seam or something. Those little toys are interesting enough, but this rocket shit isn’t going to do anything. I mean look how _small_ they are! I’ve seen cherry bombs that were scarier. Hell… I’ve blown up firecrackers in my hand that had more punch than that… you’re not actually killing _anyone_ with that. I think you were better off with the cotton assault, before I realized you weren’t a threat.”

 

Aside from the fires and the tiny mechanical sounds, Brainz thought he could hear the sound of steam whistling: coinciding with how red this dummy became. The pieces nearly struck the ceiling with how violent they were jettisoning around, Brainz had to step back to keep himself from being struck himself.  The other noises it made, it almost sounded like it was going to explode: but vented it out with a long and tremendously inflamed yell, followed by a sputtering mess of angry words.

“ **Y-yEAH- YE**

 **YOU’RE ALL** **_AWFUL!!!!_ **

**_F-FINAL ATACK!!!!!”_ **

 

This was its desperation it seemed, with it: Brainz saw a return of the original clones to add to the rank of the robots. But no more cotton balls would come into play, they utilized a different projectile. _Themselves_. Mimicking the kind of levitation the dummy was performing, a wave of miniatures threw themselves at Brainz on a straight course: a kamikaze rush.

 

He raised a brow, at least he didn’t expect this: but after that… all he had to do was step out of the way. It wasn’t tremendously difficult, considering the clones weren’t built with homing technology and simply faded into the wall behind. He wasn’t in the mood to have to flick them off of him like ants.

 

It wasn’t over yet, the robots followed immediately after with a perfectly synced wave of tiny missiles, all clumping together into a slow moving mass. This could’ve been dangerous given the nature of explosives, and Brainz actually had to defend himself. He grabbed his bat and when the mass was close enough, he struck it with an overhead blow, giving a larger blast: shotgunning various bits of metal all over the floor and him.

 

When he was done inspecting the bat and himself for damage, brushing it all off. He cleared his throat, straightened himself off and laid his feelings straight.

“Are we done here?”

 

It stopped levitating and moving all together, the army of robots and minions retreated and abandoned their master: leaving it to shift its eyes away from him… looking _nervous._ In fact, Brainz could see sweat beading up on its head. _Sweat,_ on something made of cloth and stuffing. On a _ghost_ of all things. It lost the volume and anger in its voice, now down to whispering to itself: sounding diffident.

 

“No way… _(how did he…?)_

It looked up from its introspection and snapped back into what seemed like its contrived attitude. Remembering it needed to sound angry and assertive, staring back into Brainz with hate.

“- _uhm-_

 _-_ These guys are even **_WORSE_ ** than the others! Yeah… who cares? WHO CARES?!”

 

It went off to give an unbothered demeanor by laughing to itself, but Brainz saw right through it and crossed his arms cynically.

“Who cares? I think you should _“cares”_ actually,  you’re one to talk.”

 

For once… it actually listened to him, and broke character and retorted, sounded aggrieved.

“What?!”

 

Brainz gave a single chuckle and curled up that smug grin. Now it was his turn to sound condescending, only he felt it was genuine. He didn’t need to yell or jerk around for attention, he already earned that, judging by the anxiety in the dummy’s face along with the heavier perspiration.

“I said, you’re one to talk! Why so quick to throw all of your boys under the bus? At least they _did_ something. All you’ve been doing is having a seizure and yelling like drunk preacher.”

 

It ground its teeth together, groaning anxiously and angrily.

“What are you _saying?!”_

 

Brainz’s face sneered, invited by the momentum he ganked from this fight. The thing was at his mercy now, and he knew this: that’s why he swaggered up real close to it: unhurried and without any precaution. He made sure he towered over the thing, cracking his joints and laughing disrespectfully as a means to further debase it. Then he bent over, as if to whisper something in its ear: coming close enough that he could smell the musty old cotton inside.

 

He took a deep breath and exhaled his warm, pungent breath into the cloth, violating personal space to harry it more, he knew he was able to. Then his tongue clicked as he opened his mouth: and a very minatory, yet calm voice came out. Just above a whisper, as smooth as ever: mind the rasping inside.

“I’m just _saying…_

You didn’t do _shit._

That under all that hubris and yelling… all you really did was waste my time, at least the little bitch that lives here- I mean _used to_ live here. Did something. You just wasted my time… just like everything else down here.

You’re not _shit.”_

 

Then he snickered dubiously and backed off just to stare into its eyes, the heavy brows were gone: it was shaking. Brainz’s teeth were all displayed as they tried to reach his ears, the tarnished fang against rows of yellow and translucent bones.

“...It’s funny…

 _Well…_ I’ll laugh at least. Only because I find you to be kind of-”

 

Suddenly his arm jerked into action, forcing his palm right onto the dummy’s madly perspiring face. Knocking it over like a bowling pin. Brainz finished the gesture by over pronouncing the last word with such enunciation.

“- **_pathetic.”_ **

The pronunciation was so exaggerated, his mouth made a popping noise: sprinkling scintillae of saliva into the air.

 

Brainz stepped over the downed thing, and began walking away: turning his back to last-gasp protests, despairing cries.

“ **_HEY!_ **

**YOU CAN’T LEAVE!!!**

**I’M NOT DONE WITH YOU!!!”**

 

It yelled as loud as it could, this time: Brainz was ignoring it: giving no more attention. Even as it bounded behind him, trying to catch up: the stand thumping against the ground.

“You think I need _them?!!_

I think I need friends?!?!

I’ll show you!!

I’ll, _I’ll-_ I’ll SHOW YOU WHAT I GOT!!!”

 

Brainz wasn’t going to even acknowledge it, like a unruly delinquent: he wouldn’t give into the behavior, he would be content with letting it burn itself out, but this was before he heard the distinct sound of a blade being unsheathed. The sharp melody of metal reverberating… and then the wisp of displaced air as it sailed through it.

* * *

[You shouldn't have done that.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGqvpMQQ48o)

“ **_WHAT?!”_ **

The sound of shock tore through the silence, bellowing from the dummy: the sound of confirmation for what just happened. Brainz was now staring back at the dummy, turned around in a reflex. Holding up a lone hand, palm out… the same position his his back would’ve been punctured… if the knife hadn’t been arrested by a hand. The blade just ever so slightly embedded through bandages and flesh. The red began to run once more, seeping through the lines and crevices in his palm… but there was more of it in his eyes… they flared.

 

“ _Now_ … you did something…”

There was a low growl in his voice, Brainz doubled back for the completely frozen Dummy, swiping the knife from his wound without so much as a wince or a look at it: he was fixated on the awe stricken face.

“ **_Now,_ ** you pissed me off.”

 

The dummy tried to speak, but only made a series of feeble noises and nervous grunts. Brainz forced himself back into their face, knife just inches away: still dripping with his own blood.

“No… nah-nah-nah-no-no… no…. No more.”

 

The calmness in his voice was so shallow and full of holes, the viciousness underneath was obvious: like he was rearing to snap. He twitched and shook his breath as a smile fought to stay on his face. He began to rush on his words, forcing a sense of urgency and alarm.

“Y’know what? I haven’t been fair to you, I think oughta know: listen here, listen good: you listen up, pal. I’ve just had one of the worst things ever happen to me in my life, you wanna know what that is?”

 

It was rhetorical, he pushed himself even closer to the sweat lousy, cloth face.

“I just remembered, that I’m still me: and I’m still stuck here. But I guess that doesn’t sound _so_ bad to you: cuz you don’t even know. And even if you did, you _still_ wouldn’t get it, you wouldn’t believe me if I _told_ you.”

 

The he took a very long breath of air, it quivered on the way out.

“Well… lemme just say, I’m not feeling so good right now. In fact, I’ve never felt worse in my entire life: not since I ended up as me, not since I fell down this hellhole, _not_ since I was beset upon by all of you assholes, _NOT_ since I was drowned in garbage water, and **_NOT…._ ** SINCE… I stepped in there.”

 

The knife pointed at Undyne’s still burning house, then it came right back to the Dummy, the tip was tugging ever so gently on a seam right down the middle of its face. He giggled almost unwillingly, gasping after it.

 

“Man can only take _so_ much: the body is one thing… it’ll go till the heart calls it quits. But the _mind,_ it **_bends_ ** and **_twists_ ** to deal with trauma… and mine… well I can feel it knotted up inside of me, I can almost **_HEAR_ ** it splintering in my brain. Just… bit by bit, another string giving away, everytime I so much as see another one of yous. I think…-”

 

He lost eye contact for a moment as a bout in involuntary laughing caused him to cringe, straining all of his joints as they locked up. But he came back.

“- **_I_ ** think… I so much as get _looked_ at the wrong way again… it’ll just-”

 

Without warning, the knife severed the seam as it strutted upwards, the dummy convulsed from it but held stockstill.

“- **_*SNAP*...._ ** Into two. Just like that… you know… I don’t even know what’ll happen-”

 

And he looked away, staring vacantly into the distance: expecting visions of horror to manifest before him. But not for now, the world just seemed to grow a shade darker: mind the red.

“- but I think...it’ll be like a pitbull ripping apart a rabbit. Entrails all over the grass… bits of fur and stringy meat stuck between its teeth… _yeaah…_ it’ll almost look like **_cotton!_ ** Yeah… cotton…”

 

The knife came back to its face, so did Brainz.

“You catch my drift?”

 

They were engaged like this for a _long_ time. Just frozen in place, none of them blinked… and none of them were happy about this. The question was _who,_ was more unhappy. More like: closer to breaking. It could’ve been either, especially with Brainz’s hateful eyes burning a hole into the Dummy’s very being. But it finally reacted.

 

It began to laugh, not for the sake of finding it funny: but involuntarily. A nervous laughter… it was hysterical… Brainz shared a laugh with it too, only he knew what was funny. The dummy shook and shivered, keeping up the laugh: but then giving it context.

“I mistook you… I-i-i i really did… my… my cousin saw you a couple of days ago… being carried by this weird lady in the ruins… people are… they’re afraid of her. I always thh-ought that wasn’t right. They-they’re not right. We just don’t know alot about her… so.. I saw you and though _t,_ the s-same thing… that y-you were just-just another human… only sc-ary because we d-don’t know anything exc-cept what we’re told… the stories-”

 

It was having trouble actually speaking, each pause or slip up was either caused by a chuckle or a shiver, it couldn’t control it. But it cleared its throat and tried to finish, somehow managing to look into his eyes without breaking character.

“-But… I was wrong… people are afraid of you… they have a reason to be… you’re not _like_ the other humans… you’re not like _anything…_ you’re… you are… you’re-”

 

It just couldn’t finish… as if not a word existed that would fit, but Brainz felt the old familiar sting of similarity… he knew how it was supposed to end, so he finished for the Dummy.

“- a **monster?”**

 

It couldn’t answer him, it was back to being motionless: like the word had paralyzed it, or brought hesitance to dare correct him or agree. Brainz straightened up, and licked the stream of red off of his hand, and began to turn to leave.

“Then I’m no better than you.”

 

He left the Dummy once more to let it wallow in the despair he’d returned to it. It _still_ called him back… but a lot more politely, more timid and almost fearful to anger him. Chuckling nervously and weakly.

“Heh.. heh… hey…

That’s… that’s my only knife…”

 

Brainz managed to hear it and stopped, he turned around slowly again: and again he approached it dubiously. Sardonically addressing the issue while inspecting the red covered blade: by licking some of the blood off and doing so with such a dooming look.

“Oh? Well then… I wouldn’t want to deprive you of it then… _*here*.”_

 

“ **_HheuHT!”_ ** **_  
_ ** It violently grimaced as Brainz plunged the knife right into the center of its head. Letting the handle go when he made sure it was stuck, the red soaked into the fabric all around. Bleeding its crimson shade all around, almost with an audible hissing noise.

 

He was gone shortly after, his silhouette would leave the Dummy’s eyesight as he vanished down the passage. It began to laugh nervously again, trying to show a casual reaction to what Brainz did.

“Aheheh… aheh…”

But the smile that came with it soon left its face… because it realized something.

“Heh… I… why can’t I move?”

 

It tried to jump, it tried to levitate, and it tried very hard to struggle: but it was utterly motionless, the laughter became panicked… and it tried to call out for Brainz.

“Hey… _Hey!_ What did you do to me! I can’t… _MMMmoove!_

_HEY!_

**_HEYYY!!!_ **

**_COME BACK HERE!!_ **

**_COME BAAAACK!!”_ **

 

It yelled and yelled as loud as it could

[But Nobody Came...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzM2oWtTAws)  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	18. Unallowable Grandiloquence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nᴏʙᴏᴅʏ ʟɪᴋᴇs ᴍᴇ, ᴇᴠᴇʀʏʙᴏᴅʏ ʜᴀᴛᴇs ᴍᴇ  
> ᵢ ₜₕᵢₙₖ ᵢ'ₗₗ gₒ ₑₐₜ wₒᵣₘₛ!
> 
>  
> 
> ̶̺̝̻͂̃͝Ｓ̸̢̩͘Ｈ̷̬͌Ｕ̷͖̂́͒Ｔ̷͙̝̫͛ ̴̳̔͝Ｕ̶̩̀Ｐ̴̘̌
> 
> ₕₑ ₛₑₗₗₛ.  
> ₛₑₑ ₛₕₑₗₗₛ  
> Dₒwₙ by  
> ₜₕₑ ₛₑₐ ₛₜₒᵣₑ
> 
> BUT, ᴡʜʏ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ɢɪʟᴅ ɢᴏʟᴅ?
> 
> ᴾʳᶦᵈᵉ  
> ᴾʳᵒᵘᵈ  
> ᶜᴼⱽᴱᵀ
> 
> Ｈ̸͇̔̕̕ｏ̷̢͈̹͐ｗ ̴̧͖̥͑̍̕ ̶̪̒̇͊ｗ̸̢̮̤̆̉͌ａ̴̡̟̓ｓ̶̜͗̋̓ｔ̷͎͈̓ｅ̷̱̈̿͝ｆ̴̦̄ｕ̴̼̮̦̔̀̍ｌ̵͖̯̼̐͆．̷̧̖̉̄̕
> 
>  
> 
> Wₕₐₜ ₐ wₐₛₜₑ ᵢₛ ᵢₜ ₜₒ ₗₒₛₑ ₒₙₑ’ₛ ₘᵢₙd,  
> ᴸ̷ᵒ̴ˢ̴ᵉ̷ ̸ᵒ̴ⁿ̸ᵉ̴’̷ˢ̴ ̵ᵗ̴ᶦ̴ᵐ̸ᵉ̸.̵
> 
> ＢＵＴ ＡＬＬ ＴＨＡＴ ＧＬＩＴＴＥＲＳ ＩＳ ＮＯＴ ＧＯＬＤ
> 
> Cᴀɴ ʏᴏᴜ ғɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ sᴇᴄʀᴇᴛ?
> 
>  
> 
> ̶̡̡̢̫̠̣͙̦̠̂̒̒͊Ĥ̴̢̠̭̫̼̰̰̼̏̓̌̇͊͗̾̚ō̸̢̼͓̱͐ͅw̸̹͙̉̉͘̕ ̸u̷n̵b̸e̸a̷r̵a̶b̴l̶e̴.̴
> 
> ̴̢͚̲̘̱̝͕̮̂͑̑
> 
> Wʜʏ ᴘᴀɪɴᴛ ᴀ ʟɪʟʏ?  
> Wₕₑₙ ᵢₜ wᵢₗₗ ⱼᵤₛₜ ᵣₒₜ.
> 
> L̶̟̒͐͝I̵̧̮͆͜K̴̦̹̦̔̏͗Ȩ̵̦̈ͅ ̴͓̳̙̑̾Ỷ̷̺̯̃̈́O̵̺̽Ủ̵̗̯͆͒.̴̺͔͓̊̓͑

“Ugh… why did I do that?”

Brainz was trying to spit the taste of blood from his mouth: it was the least of things to gripe about, but the most complainable. Considering he could hear that stupid dummy hollering up a storm back there, and the ever so haunting crying decided to come back, and the migraine making these things so much worse. His concern was just asking himself why he licked the blood off of the knife. He hated the taste of blood, it made him sick to his stomach. Then why did he do it?

 

It _felt_ right to do back there, it was bizarre… his head hurt. So did his hands, he could’ve ducked: the risk of getting the knife to his scalp wasn’t _too_ bad. But no: he _had_ to catch it to look more intimidating. After all, it _worked…_ he managed to get one of these freaks to call him a monster: with his help of course… but they also said something very interesting-

 

“Hold on a sec.”

Brainz stood back in the center of the “evil pond” room and massaged his forehead: trying to calm himself from the excitement with some breathing. Tuning out the yells from the other room was also something he wished he could do... but right now, getting out of here was his main concern. He'd be rid of the noise and hopefully the crying when he did. Brainz looked around for the places he hadn’t gone yet, narrowed down to making a left or a right… _or…_

 

There was just this small particular thought… Brainz was already below breaking into houses, even though the last one was _pretty bad_ in the end, it wasn’t without its benefits. The one before it was just a tease in the worst of ways… there was another house though… the second twin of the “vaguely phallic shaped houses”. He thought about it… he’d already wasted hours of his precious time in this area alone: not even minding the fact he was on borrowed time to begin with. But to be honest… he was having a hard time caring about that: or anything else for that matter.

 

What was one more count of burglary, especially when people were “scared” of him. So he headed right back up the middle path, actually disregarding the sobbing noise too: even when it stopped as he approached the two houses again. This was going to be quick, no more of this ametuer nonsense: Brainz was a professional, he had over twenty years of experience doing this: being forty-six years old wasn’t all bad once you stopped missing your youth. But no, in and out: and if anything else wished to slow him down now: he was either going to run away from it, or make it run away from him. Option “C” however, also worked if he got fed up.

 

He stepped up to the door and tried it. The knob gave a mocking rattle as it refused to turn without a key.

“Locked? That’s a step up from the rest, _well_ : I guess I should go.”

It was locked alright, there was nothing he could do about that, he’d simply walk away and leave it alone.

(...)

 

Brainz reared himself for a third kick, but just before the business end of his boot would strike the door: its hinges gave out and sent it face first into the floor with a thunderous slam.

“Oops.”

Brainz overestimated the door from its initial appraisal, so much for being subtle now: there was no way he was hiding the fact he invited himself in. Not when it lay on the ground, amidst pieces of the door frame. At least he was inside now… well, he was inside after he stepped back and picked up his weapon again.

This was starting to feel repetitive. Sure, he liked holding this sadist club: not so much having to put it down everytime he needed to do something then having to bend over and pick it back up. But he just couldn’t stow it inside of his jacket, it wouldn’t fit and it’d be quite uncomfortable. Regardless, he slunk inside.

 

Brainz stood in the doorway for a moment, taking in the room… and clicking his tongue disappointedly. This was a really generic and boring room: if he had a word to describe it, it was “girly”. No more girly than the last bedroom, except that one had a reality shattered mirror that tempted suicide. This one just had a poster, and pink wallpaper, pink curtains... , and books placed on the floor.

 

Brainz sighed and rubbed on his sore ankle, he still explored inside though: he went through the trouble of overkilling the door, and it would most likely come back to haunt him later, so he may as well try to get some worth out of it, or at least something to tell himself it was kind of worth it. He tossed his weapon on the bed and partially bloodied it then went for one of the books on the floor.

 

It was a diary the handwriting was done in frilly curves and dotted hearts, and it read like so.

_Dearest Diary: Our cousin left the farm to become a training dummy-_

 

Brainz didn’t finish reading and he let the book slap to the ground. He grumbled under his breath, feeling especially worn out not.

 

“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me, so there _are_ more ghosts… _cousins…”_

He sighed and silently complained some more, but bent over to get some closure on the passage.

- _That just leaves Blooky and I-_

He put it down again, without dropping this time: but grumbled some more.

“There’s more than 2, _good!_ Just keeps getting better…”

A more aggravated sigh with an eye roll, back to reading.

 

_-Blooky asked me if I was going to try to become corporeal, too._

_They sounded so…_

_Resigned…_

_Come on, Blooky_

_You know I’d never leave you behind._

_And besides… I’d never find the kind of body I’m looking for anyway._

 

Blooky? That sounded familiar… wait! Yes, it _was_ familiar, Brainz was able to remember before the mirror incident; the very “not so helpful” sign he was so willing to bash.

_Blook Acres._

 

It didn’t take much thought to make a _little_ bit of sense out of this. He put some things together and this is what he concluded with:

  * This was blook acres: whoever lived here or at least wrote this diary and “Blooky” were related to that chump Brainz left at the burning house.
  * “Blooky” probably lived next door, in the first house Brainz broke into



The last conclusion wasn’t really sure, he felt one of these two was responsible for haunting him, and one of them barged into his life back in the dumps. Considering how _not_ feminine that guy sounded to Brainz, and the overbearing pink nature of the room… he felt it could’ve been this “Blooky” that he dealt with… he wasn’t sure: but it gave him a reason to keep flipping pages.

 

Which were all empty with the exception of this first passage, he must’ve picked up their latest diary from who must’ve been an avid writer. So he tried another one.

 

_Dearer Diary:_

_I like to buy a new diary for every entry I make._

 

Brainz flipped one page, was convinced of this: and dropped it to the floor with an unamused expression. He was starting to realize he had a bad habit of overcomplicating things, more so that he was giving these people too much credit. Another diary, another wasteful use of the paper.

 

_Dear Diary:_

_Shyren’s sister “fell down” recently._

_It’s sad._

_Without her sister to speak for her…_

_She’s become more reclusive than ever_

_So I reached out to her, and told her…_

_That she, Blooky, and I should all perform together sometime._

_She seemed to like that idea._

 

There was no more after that, so back to the floor it went: He didn’t gain much from this one, only the name of someone he didn’t know: and how this person euphemized death, what “else” could stand for “falling down?” It couldn’t have meant actually falling down here, that’d make no sense. Whatever, next diary.

 

_My Darling Diary:_

_I met someone…_

_Interesting today_

_Last week I posted that advertisement for my Human Fanclub._

_Today was our first meeting._

_Only one other person came._

_Honestly, she’s a dork. And she’s obsessed with these awful cartoons._

_But she’s kind of funny too…._

_I want to see her again._

 

“Uhhhh…”

This one was a little more informative, it had some potential meanings to it. A dork who liked “awful” cartoons. What could that mean? Brainz only knew one person who could’ve been such a dork, he set her house on fire: but there was just one thing that stuck out about this. The words “Human Fanclub” on the paper. Considering his relationship with Undyne… he felt his bruises ache. Brainz didn’t even want to think of ways to make it make sense… as far as “fans” go. He saw her room, he saw those VHS tapes and DVDs, it didn’t paint a pleasant picture in his mind.

 

Brainz shuddered and picked up another diary to clear the imagery from his mind. Also croaking under his breath.

“God, _please…_ don’t even, just no… no.”

 

Next book, next entry.

_Diary… my dear:_

_My diary collection is going fabulously_

_I have like five now._

 

And that was it, Brainz let it drop and held his itchy and throbbing hands palms up, simply cynical.

“Why?”

He knew he wasn’t getting an answer, so he moved on to the next and final book of the bunch, he had low expectations.

_Dear Diary:_

_She surprised me with something today._

_Sketches of a body that she wants to create for me…_

_A form beyond my wildest fantasies_

_In a form like that, I could finally feel like… “myself”_

_After all, there’s no way I can be a star the way I am now_

_Sorry, Blooky._

_My dreams can’t wait for anyone…”_

 

He slowly let the book down this time, keeping it in his grip just so he could take additional glances at it. It brought a _lot_ to mind, a lot of questions. First, it didn’t make a lot of sense, not when he compared it to his previous thoughts.

 

Most prominently, “she”: being they hadn’t referenced anyone else after this “fan club” woman: it had to be the same person… so it had to Undyne, right?

“No… It can’t be… creating a body? And a fan club… that doesn’t make sense for what I’ve seen.”

 

Brainz sat himself down on the bed, making sure not to sit on a nail from his weapon, and he tapped on his nose trying to figure this all out. It seemed petty, generally it really wasn't supposed to apply to him: but he couldn’t help but feel ensnared by it: it took his mind off of the doom and gloom, it was like a puzzle to keep him sane.

 

So the possibility this woman was _not_ Undyne was beginning to outweigh the other side, being all he had to compare was the likeness of “awful cartoons” it didn’t have to be those weird “Jap shows” sure, anime was an “awful cartoon” but it wasn’t the only awful cartoon out there. So there was that.

 

But building a body now? If the living dummy was content with a soulless idol meant for abuse, made of cloth and cotton, would that mean something similar could work for a body? Perhaps this person was a seamstress. Maybe the same person who made the wedding dress Brainz desecrated for scraps! Yeah… that could work, that was a _much_ better possibility than a deranged potentially turned on fan wanting to do unspeakable things to him. He was already slightly afraid of Undyne, he didn’t need anymore reasons.

 

Then who could it be referencing, he barely knew any women down here, let alone many people at all. “Shyren” was one, but the titles weren’t consistent.

“Wait...  I wonder.”

 

Brainz reached into one of his pockets and fished out the letter he stole, covered in hearts and drying blood, he unfolded it again and overlooked the nasty parts.

_Dear, Dr Alphys…-_

 

“Doctor” could’ve meant numerous things, it wasn’t restricted to a “doctor” Doctor, it could’ve meant this Alphys was some kind of scientist or researcher. Perhaps wise to the practice of giving ghosts hospitable bodies to haunt. As insane as that sounded, it made a lot more sense than any other conclusion Brainz had ever made down here. He _was_ going insane, but it was probably unrelated to why things were beginning to make sense.

 

There was only _one_ issue with this new theory. If this person or “ghost” was referring to this “Alphys” then it would to be a “she”. Only problem with this to Brainz, Undyne gave a lot of clues that it was also a she, and then there was this “love” letter.

 

Brainz’s face degraded into a such a look of disgust and dispungence.

“Awwwh, that is _so *fucking*_ wrong… I mean… _nooo!!”_

For the first time in a while, he yelled at himself.

“Just **_no!_ ** What is _wrong_ with you? That’s more disgusting than thinking she’s hard up for me… there’s gotta be more than one _“lady”_ here… either that or Undyne is actually one of the biggest faggots I've had the displeasure to witness…"

 

He finished it with a low murdered gripe.

"Gay freaks of nature...  _perfect_."

 

His viewpoint on such matters was… acerbic to say the least. So much that the thought of homosexuality repulsed him more than anything else down here. Brainz was a very strong sectarian into homophobia. It didn’t matter that he felt these things weren’t _people,_ yet he still branded them under terms and rules that only _applied_ to people. If he felt he was wasting his time overthinking things? This would be one of them, but hypocrisy wasn’t high on his list right now.

 

But enough of that, there was something else about this passage that took his attention.

 

_-Sorry, Blooky._

_My dreams can’t wait for anyone…”_

 

Considering it was the last entry and last book, it looked not unlike a ditching note. If that was the case…

“Wow… that’s… that’s uh..”

 

The distaste he was feeling seemed to go away, giving the spot for Brainz to feel… _bad._ For someone other than him. He rested his chin on his lesser damaged hand and stared out through the open door, thinking openly.

“ _Shit…_ I wonder if that’s who “Blooky" was-

The ghost back at the dumps he was quick to scorn and send off with some profanities for the road.

“- fuck… looks like this person left them… if that’s the case… I kind of feel like a dick.”

 

Brainz slumped down in the soft bed, humming a mellow thinking tone, he knew the feeling of being left behind. It really didn’t feel good, it was one of those things he’d almost refrain from wishing on his enemies. _Almost…_

“Wait! What am I saying?!”

He shot straight up and remembered his outside voice and bad temper.

“That asshole made my friend go away! And then his stupid folks went after me! I ain’t feeling sorry for him, I oughta be sorry for _myself,_ goddammit!”

 

Brainz stood up from the bed and sighed angrily, shaking his head to get some sense into it, then regretting that because it exacerbated his headache.

“Uuulgh… I’m leaving.”

 

He made for the door, then did a complete turn around when he realized he left his weapon behind again, coming to terms with another aggravated sigh.

“Okay, I really gotta get a better way to hold this: this is going to drive me insane before these idiots do.”

 

Again, fitting it in the jacket wasn’t happening, so he’d need someway to secure it to himself, but on the outside. The only thought that came to mind, was remembering a way he’d holster handguns, tucked into the waist of his pants: behind his back. Perhaps partially holding the weapon there would help. Brainz lifted up the ends of his jacket, to look down below.

 

No, that wasn’t happening either, he’d risk hitting himself in the head everytime he moved his leg, no mention how awkward it felt: having to keep his back straight, which was hard enough already.

However, the pants approach wasn’t without a silver lining, specifically the black leather belt wrapped around his waist. Brainz tugged at it and inspected.  It was pulled pretty tightly, nearly to the last notch in the thing: Brainz was slightly dependent on it for keeping his pants secured. It wasn’t like they were a size or two too large, but Brainz had withered some since he had those pants. Periodic starvation and malnutrition was his secret.

 

It was a good idea though, he looked at the nails decorating the bat and compared them to the little holes, with a little bit of work, he’d be able to bend a few and turn them into hooks. It was worth a shot at the least: Brainz peered out of the doorway to ensure nobody was watching lest his pants fall down. Being stalked and haunted was one thing, but being spotted with them around his ankles seemed worse.

 

The belt came undone, and he held the thing while clenching onto his loosened jeans. There were bite marks all over the worn leather: mementos for when he used his belt for pain suppression. He went to work, first fitting it over and under his arms and puncturing the new hole to put the prong though with a screwdriver when he found the right length, far passed the premade holes.

Then onto the bat, he found three nails that were lined up enough to try this half brained idea, once again: the premanufactured holes weren’t going to cut it, but the screwdriver made quick work of the leather to create some holes that _would_ work. Then he pulled out his lighter and heated up the chosen nails, just enough so they’d glow that glaring color his eyes were so accustomed to.

 

It was a process to bend them without burning himself, but after some hard work, he put the lighter away and found himself with a decent holster! Brainz fastened it to himself and shifted around some, to test it. The bat wobbled and moved a little more than he’d like, it made him anxious that it could fall off given any sudden movements. But it seemed to hold relatively well, and the thick leather coat prevented it from digging into his back, the more sharp bits. It was most likely going to be ruined by the end of the day, but better it than him: it wasn't like it'd be in tact anyways.

 

As for accessibility, a quick reach behind would take him no more than a second to arm himself, it worked that well. It was putting it back on, that required a little bit of finessing to do: but this wasn’t too bad of an issue. It wasn’t the other way around, which was good.

 

He was all set to go, mind the pants now, when Brainz stood up: he felt them slumping and tilting: all he’d need to do was run or fall into some excruciating “activity” and he’d run the risk of tripping… that was considerably risky: it could’ve ended up as a deal breaker for this. The last two times he'd tripped, it almost killed him.

 

He excused himself from the home as he tugged and pulled: not mindful to where he was going, until he came across a less familiar noise, reminiscent to a jet engine. He looked up from his waist and peered back into the other home.

 

“You gotta be kidding me, it’s _still_ booting up?!”

It had to have been at least an hour or so when he pressed the button on “Blooky’s” computer and scoffed at the age and sounds it made. He wandered back to see a still incomplete progress bar filling up the screen. He was astonished in a disappointed way.

“Unbelievable.”

 

This is why he hated computers, they were clunky and expensive, not to mention how they harass the utility bills, and for what? Something that takes a _very_ long time to get ready for actual use that didn’t even work in the end! Not to mention all the times he almost tripped on those stupid wires, why did they make them so long? He could tie somebody up with those! You were screwed if you didn’t have a twist-”

 

“Wait!”

Brainz snapped his fingers (Then winced because it hurt) and approached the loud beast: still making nervous glances at the inert spider web in the corner, that was never not going to bother him. He crouched under the desk and found what he was looking for, hanging like vines in a knotted mess. Brainz went to grab them but pulled back on a reflex, he remembered something about electricity, and he didn’t want to risk it. So he looked for the outlet to cut it off. He looked and looked, following every wire… but he’d never find it. Was this thing running on a battery? Did computers do that?... what about televisions? Because he looked at the TV and found it lacked _any_ wires. Let alone to go into the wall.

“What?”

 

It made _no_ sense, this place made no sense: Brainz had enough of it and went back for the computer cables, this time using his insulated boot to pull on them only for the monitor to come crashing down from above. It didn’t have a chance, the last thing it displayed was a hopeful **_99%,_ ** before going black.

“Whoops.”

The computer stopped sounding like a jet engine, he must’ve broke the power source: whatever it was. So he went for the largest and longest cable he could find and gave it a tug… it didn’t give.

Brainz grunted,  annoyed and he held his foot against the shattered monitor screen at on of the ends of the wire, pulling again and trying to sever the cable with all his might.

“ _HNnnnnnnnRRRGhh!_

_Come, OOooooon!!!_

_HMmmmmmMMMMPPPH!_

 

Bah! Fucking hell! Did they glue the damn things into the plugs? What the hell?!”

 

It took a minute to investigate, but this impromptu detective work bore fruits.

“Oh…”

 

He discovered his efforts to remove the monitor cable from the computer were foiled by a pair of thumbscrews keeping it secured. Luckily nobody was watching him, so he didn’t need to feel inept for too long and he made quick work of them: having to do the same for the end plugged into the tower.

 

When he was done, he stood up (Pulled his pants up) and held out the blue headed cable: very thick rubber, and just barely flexible: it seemed ideal. Brainz threaded the bulky connectors through his pant loops, and covered them up with the large trench coat flaps. Then with an ample amount of cordage left, he put together a fairly large knot: using the large heads as a way to keep it in place. Brainz gave a tight pull on them, and when he let go: his pants were hugging his waistline again: very snug.

 

His eyes widened some, accompanied by some humble nodding.

“Wow… didn’t think it would work so well… very nice.”

 

He looked down one more time and his face tilted a bit: pushed by a little self consciousness, looking at his unorthodox appearance.

“Purple trench coat, crazy looking bat, and using computer parts as a belt, and then _this-”_

He couldn’t help but tug at the sweater he was still wearing, those childish looking stripes, albeit faded and dirtied. It would be redundant for keeping warm, given this jacket: but he just couldn’t bring himself to take it off. He wanted to keep it as a memento, no matter how guilty it made him feel. He gave up ridiculing it and sighed.

“-I must look ridiculous… like a real mental case.”

 

But then a more positive thought came to him, a little bit of well needed humor.

“Hey, maybe I’ll fit in now, I look like a jackass."

Heh… _lets get the fuck out of here.”_

 

He left the jacket open for free access to his things and walked away.

 

After these rather farcical delays and holdbacks, Brainz finally earned another go in choosing the right path to take. Also, he decided he was being too hard on the sign: being it was right about “Blook Acres” being north, which gave him that needed sense of direction. So now it was down to two choices, left or right: west and east.

 

The west path brought back that bizarre glowing plasma water Brainz had seen far earlier, it looked… _dangerous_ to say the least, but going east to this so called “Hotland”... it was just a generic path. While he wasn’t thrilled about a place with the word “Hot” in the title… it was the lack of glowing blue water that attracted him. As for “??? Temmie Village” he didn’t want to know. Finally back on the road again.

 

“Heyy, I remember you!”

An ingenuine smile cret up his face as he was met with a familiar one. Another one of those self aware boxes, he hadn’t seen one in a while. Brainz could almost take this as a sign he was going the right way. And it was also empty too: standing beside a curious looking passage into a small cavernous place. Brainz had to duck to avoid hitting his head as he took a look inside, squinting from the dampened light.

* * *

 

 **“Woah there! Haven’t seen a face like** **_yours_ ** **before!”**

Brainz jumped at the voice and his head broke apart a good group of stalactites, he took it and stumbled back up without so much as a grunt or a moan, just a couple of wheezes from holding it in. He retreated out of the room and stood just outside, hunched in a fight or flight position.

 

The voice that he heard, it had this distinguishing drawl: only akin to a more elderly person, weighed down by years: it had this patronizing tone that really tried to go for friendliness. It was all the more suspicious, anything sounding remotely “friendly” only brought up paranoid feelings. So Brainz held his distance, primed for any evasive action he’d need to do. The voice radiated from inside, amused.

“Woah-ho-hey now! You can come on back, I didn’t mean’ta fright-cha there!”

 

Brainz didn’t trust it all that much, he did creep closer to the entrance: but kept to the side, partially covering himself and peering in cautiously, feeling his pocket for something he may need to take out.  It continued to call for him, goading him to come closer.

“There ya go, come on now: I don’t bite! Not anymore, wah-hah-ha.”

 

The last part of that was a joke, or at least that’s what it sounded like, Brainz eventually did come inside, but only after assessing what he’d have to do if the need arose. He finally got a good look at his new company, and it earned a neutral “huh” to come out of him, being what it looked like.

 

It looked like a trope almost, anthropomorphic turtle, exaggerated features to show age: because of course, turtles could live to be very old. This one looked like some kind of prospector or an explorer you’d find on any discovery channel show. Of course, the voice matched how he looked, an old codger with a nearly toothless grin. Brainz didn’t say anything when he walked back inside: he was content to just stare at the turtle, waiting for what it had to say next.

“Well hey there! You come lookin for some neat junk?’

[Patronage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTeUdtilREo)

Brainz still wasn’t able to pinpoint the vibe of this guy, he was stuck in his thoughts on a slow going “Threat or no threat” determination. The offer took more than ten seconds to get to his brain after hearing it, there were just other things that had to process first. When it finally did, Brainz shook out of his thoughts.

“ _Huh?-_ B’what? What’d you say?”

The turtle stiffed up its lips slightly and went to repeat itself, with less tempo and more pronunciation, meant for someone hard of hearing and hard of mental acuity.

“I said… _Sonny,_ I got me… some neat junk… for sale…. You take a look?”

 

 _Sonny,_ it really didn’t sound right to Brainz now: considering he actually knew how old he was, but being this thing looked bout fifty years older. He could let it slide, what he couldn’t let slide was this thing’s intention. He couldn’t pick anything underlyingly suspicious, but he felt there _had_ to be something: there was nobody he met down here who lacked a motive against him for being a human. He wasn’t even sure if this thing _knew_ he was a human… but he played along for now: keeping his escape plan in mind.

“Uhhm, _nh-no…_ I don’t got a dime to me: Uhh, sorry… I’m just-”

He cleared his throat and lightly coughed into his arm, buying himself just a little bit of time to think of something vague and non incriminating to say.

“- _I’m just_ passing by…”

 

The old turtle squinted at him and leant just a little closer, almost skeptically: it made Brainz uncomfortable. The guy even tugged on his long beard indicating some lateral thought as it hummed.

“ _Hmmmmm…_ just… **_passing by?_** Are ya?”

 

A shiver ran up Brainz’s crooked spine, forget him being suspect about this old man, this guy had it turned on _him,_ that was the most passily accusative delivery he’d ever heard in his life. They even over enunciated the “Passing by” like they knew something was up! Brainz’s fingers danced nervously in his pockets. This thing was peering at him with such a look on its face.

 

Brainz tried to get it out of his head, and replied with his casual demeanor: trying not to let it sense his bother as he felt a drop of sweat running down his armpit.

“Yes… I am.”

 

It suddenly backed off and discarded the creepy stare, returning to that eccentric friendliness.

“Well alrighty then! You need… some _directions?-”_

 

The way it _talked…_ just slow enough to be a burden, but at the same time: it kept stretching and almost sugar coating some of its words. Almost like it knew, and it was doing this to tantalize them, like the directions…

 

It _had_ to know, why would anybody who lived down here not know the directions? Did it think Brainz was stupid? It _was_ talking like he was, or was it just senile? Brainz just couldn’t figure it out, and it was getting under his skin. Maybe that’s what the guy wanted. Brainz had to make a choice to keep up his facade and decline… or accept and take risk of being sent to a trap.

“Uhh… sh- _sure…_ ”

 

He chose taking a risk, unsteadily going with it.

 

The turtle lit up, forcing more friendliness into its voice.

“Well all- _righty_ then!... Where- _er_ ya try-n ta go there, sonny?”

 

Brainz paused again, but his mouth accidetnally opened and he forgot to keep his confusion to himself.

“Uhhhhhhhhh….”

 

While that was happening, Brainz was panicking inside of his head. Not for the sole fact he needed to come up with someone urgently or else he’d _really_ look suspicious. But for the ancillary reason that he really didn’t _know_ where he was trying to go. _To go kill Asgore,_ was neither a place or something appropriate to say and this only applied to him just now as he was being put into the spotlight.

“Eeeeehhrrrr….”

 

This was only occurring in the span of two seconds, but Brainz felt like he was sitting here making these stupid noises for over a minute while this weird old turtle probably stared into his soul. When the thought of this felt enough like torment, Brainz felt his mouth blurt out the first word that came to his mind: yelling it like a startled answer from a rudely awakened student by a ruler welding instructor.

“The castle!”

 

He repeated himself as he tried to calm down and save face. Sounding like he just remembered and was quite confident in it. 

“Yeah… the castle… yeah., I'm going there."

 

The turtle gave another anxiety inducing squint, peering even sharper into Brainz’s eyes, which couldn’t help but stare back, restrained from moving against all of his social anxiety impulses. But again, after an almost insufferable time: the turtle snapped back to that friendly demeanor.

“Wah ha haa, the castle eh? I take it you’re fixin to pay ole Fluffybuns a visit, ha??”

  
“ _Fluffybuns?_ The _fuck_ is THAT?”

Brainz didn’t actually say that, he was at a loss for anything to make up: so he winced as he felt more perspiration dripping down his sides.

“ _Fluffybuns??”_

 

The turtle started cackling at the expense of an exclusive joke that went over Brainz’s head: that was why it was so funny. The laugh both unsettled Brainz even further, but it also annoyed him. The thing eventually had enough of its joke and wound down.

“Wa-ha-hahaaa… A-hah-ha… ohh, forgive me there, sonny. First timers to that one always crack this old timer up, wah-ha-haaa…”

 

Brainz exhaled unamusedly, crossing his arms and slouching some as he waited for the turtle to get it out.

 

The humorous guy had enough and went back to talking, all with a silly smile on his face.

“Alrighty… what were we talkin about again?”

 

Brainz answered with no joy in his voice.

“Fluffybuns.”

 

The turtle ignored the bleak tone and nodded his head.

“Ah yes! Aha… King Fluffybuns, one of the nicest guys I ever met. He’s a real goofball, sucha happy go-lucky kinda guy-”

 

While Brainz continued to raise a brow, the Turtle directed itself to him.

“- y’know, you keep going the way yer goin, you’ll meet-im eventually, mean… you’re already head’n to the castle, but he just loves to walk round and talk to people… very nice guy… always wants to know how yer doin, cares about all of ya-”

 

The turtle was strangely focusing more and more on Brainz as it spoke, like it really desired to drill this into his head, how great this “King Fluffybuns” was: it was more awkward than anything considering Brainz had no idea who that was, and this was the first time he was hearing about a king, let alone with such a ridiculous name. There was a point that it became rambling, and Brainz was having a hard time focusing on it. More likely, his mind wanted to focus on everything else in the room.

 

He never really took his attention off of this strange thing, not to take a good look at the room. His eyes wandered a bit as the speech was reduced to muffled noise for him. The room itself was far smaller yet more cavernous than any other room, not to mention all of the glimmering things that decorated the walls. Precious looking gems and shiny things that’d make a jeweler blush. He could see why somebody would set up a shop here, he’d stand to make some serious money if he ought to. But more peculiar than the gems was the marking on the wall just behind the old turtle… that circle adorned with wings, standing on top of a trio of triangles. This wasn’t the first time he’d seen it.

“Huh, last time I saw that, was right after I fell…”

 

Brainz mumbled that to himself, still unfocused on the rambling turtle: but he brought his attention back just as it seemed to lost momentum.

“- he’s the the reason a lotta people can still get up in the morning, I think… a-ha…. Hm? What was that, sonny? Talking about _this?”_

They turned over their shoulder to look at the marking too.

 

Brainz tried to cover for blurting it out and interrupting them, nonchalantly mumbling some more.

“Oh yeah, sorry: didn’t mean to cut you off there, but yeah: I couldn’t help but notice seeing that a couple times… like it means something.”

 

He was given a funny look, sort of a sneer.

“Hmmph, guess you wouldn’t know about that, would-ja?”

 

The nonchalant friendliness burying a feeling of accusation was starting to get to Brainz, so much that he couldn’t help but sound a trifle defensive.

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean?”

 

Then back to normal as if _nothing_ was wrong, silly old codger voice.

“Means I dunno what they’re teaching you kids in school these days! A ha… you wanna know what that is?”

 

He was beginning to feel watched, he couldn’t stop his hands from shaking, they fumbled nervously in his pockets.

“Uh, _sure_ I guess?”

 

It flashed another less than friendly look at him, then turned to the figure.

“ _Well,_ this here is the **_Delta Rune._ ** It’s the emblem of our entire kingdom-”

 

This was the worst derail of them all now, it stopped itself and deliberately turned to Brainz, and elaborated something about it that just screamed bloody assumptions at him. Slowing its voice down so much and pronouncing it with such intent, Brainz felt his whole body turn to wet cement.

“- _y’know…_ the kingdom…. **_Of Monsters._ ** -”

 

The air began to feel heavier, Brainz just swallowed and nodded meekly as his pulse drummed in his ears. The turtle nodded with that now creepy grin and turned back to its lecture.

“- it’s a pretty _neat_ name, huh?”

It chuckled to itself.

“Like I always say, Ole King Fluffybuns can’t name for beans!”

 

More unsettling laughing as Brainz felt his skin crawling. But then the turtle sounded sincere again.

“But you know… this emblem’s _pretty_ old. Almost as old as me!-”

 

Okay, not completely serious, spare a little quip with a goading grin: Brainz didn’t even smirk at it.

“-a ha… but yesiree, this here emblem goes back before written history… meaning behind it’s been lost to time. But what we know is that: those triangles there are supposed to represent us monsters… you know… _trapped below?_

There there’s that there circle with wings… and _it’s_ supposed to symbolize….”

 

He held out the last word, seemingly for suspense: which was easily earnable with how anxious he made Brainz. Brainz couldn’t even spare the few seconds it’d take to finish on its own, he let his hands swing out of his pockets in an impatient gesture and asked.

“ _What?_ What does it mean?”

 

The turtle held the vowel out for just a touch longer and then finally gave Brainz an answer… by deflating all of the tension with a quick retort.

“I don’t remember.”

 

Brainz’s inherently disappointed scowl just begged him to make up for it.

“Well… no, I kind of remember… yes it’s coming to me. I _remember,_ that lots of people like to say it represents this _angel,_ from our prophecy…-”

 

It continued and went to elaborate on this “prophecy” without any input from Brainz, he just assumed that Brainz didn’t know, and that he _wanted_ to know. He both intimidated him, and frustrated him to no end.

“- you see prophecy says that an “angel” who has seen the surface with their own eyes, will descend from above and free _all_ of us from this place… our **_prison.”_ **

 

As Brainz tried to digest that information, resisting the urge to blurt out his confusion: the turtle continued, but doing so in a very dour manner. The nonchalant behavior went away, it sounded _gloomy,_ and even looked away from Brainz.

“- course… people have been-”

 

He looked up for just a moment to give context.

“- lately I mean, this is pretty recent, mind you-”

Back down to itself, and back to gloom.

“- people have been lookin at it a _different_ way… a more _gloom and doom_ sort of way. Saying that, that circle is supposed to be the “ _Angel of Death”_ Harbinger of death and destruction… who’ll free us alright…”

 

He shot back up to Brainz wearing the most stern expression it’d ever put on, the voice even matched and sounded bitter and contemptful.

“- free us from _damn_ living…”

Brainz felt himself begin to step back some, something was wrong here: and he didn’t need anymore evidence to come to that conclusion.

“Oh… okaay? That’s… that’s… *interesting*”

 

The turtle took no notice to him slowly slinking away, and maintained that stern look, growing in assertiveness.

“But you know what _I_ think whenever I see that circle right there?? _You know what I think?!”_

 

Brainz’s eyes couldn’t open anymore without hurting, he was completely submissive for the conversation: he tried not to piss the guy off. So the way he asked, sounded like he was just begging for it to answer, and to get this over with.

“ _What???”_

 

“I just think it looks pretty neat, don’cha say?”

And there it was, another massive buildup that caused heart stopping anxiety for someone with a guilty mind, only to be followed by an even larger letdown. So Brainz finally had enough, he reached his limit for how much of this  he could take in one sitting without losing his mind. So he took a deep breath and nodded to himself as he exhaled, trying to calm himself down.

“Okay.”

 

Then looked to the uncanny turtle and tried to be as courteous as he could give off: as he excused himself, being more thankful he hadn’t been lunged at yet or something. He spoke faster than normal, just so get out of here as fast as he could.

“Well, thank you  _soo_ so much for the history lesson: was good meeting you, Mister- uhm?”

 

He did this on purpose, extending his hand to invite this creep to give him a name, it would be a good way to close this: convincing both of the two that they were on good terms with each other.

It answered, back to that friendly outlook.

“Gerson.”

He couldn’t stop sweating, but he forced himself to smile and stay positive as he backed out of the room.

“Oh, **Gerson,** nice to meet you, my name is _Nohbdy,_ and that’s with an H. And I should probably get going: stop taking up your time, y’know. So I’ll just-”

“Woah ho ho hey, Hold on there, Sonny!”

 

He was _so_ close, Brainz was literally a foot out of the doorway, about to make a break for it: when Gerson piped up from within, beckoning him to come back. This wasn’t supposed to happen, Brainz would give a fake Alias, a smile, and then run away… free to go. But now he _had_ to come back, or else none of this would work, it made him incredibly restless.

 

He tried to free himself before anything bad could happen, tugging at his collar as everything below his neck felt like heat.

“Listen man, I really oughta-

 

It didn’t work, and Gerson pressed at him, trying to extend his hospitality.

“Slow down there, Sonny! You kids these days are always in a hurry! Why don’cha sit down for a bit? You’re looking an awful lot tired: let me get you a drink at least so you don’t keel over once you hit hotlands.”

 

Brainz fought the implied modesty with his own, he waved both of his hands politely in front of each other, while grinning and forcing a courteous chuckle.

“Oh no nonono  _no,_ I-I-i  _reaally_ couldn’t… I’ve taken up enough of your time already…”

 

Gerson swiped his hand to reject that theory. Then waved it to himself to invite Brainz to come back inside.

“Oh, _nonsense!_ C’mon have a seat and humor an old man for a while! I don’t get a lot of customers this time of day.”

 

Brainz tried one more time to get out of this, less effort for being modest and more for self preservation. He gritted his teeth lightly and exaggerated a long wince, as he exaggerated what to say as he went.

“Ahhh, look man: I _really_ gotta get going too, I mean: I gotta get to _ooo-_ King Fluffybuns right away.”

 

All of a sudden, Gerson burst into his codger like laugh, louder and more coarse than ever before and he came back from his laughter with a supercilious, snide remark.

“Ya know… that’s pretty funny. I’ve never seen anyone say that with a straight face, _ever._ That _joke_ always gets a smile at the least.”

 

(...)

 

Brainz froze, it only got worse, Gerson kept talking: sounding just beyond pleased with himself.

“Next, you’re going to tell me that they’re _teaching_ you to call him by that name.”

 

He couldn’t move… Brainz found himself stuck, just a foot out of the doorway, when the air became unbearably heavy. Once laden with hospitality, it deformed into hostility. He cringed as hard as he could and painfully whispered to himself.

“Oh… _fuck_ me!”

It was over, the jig was surely up: but he had the strangest feeling he would never have gotten away with it to begin with, the turtle just played with him _that_ much. Still though… he had to try. So he gathered what wits he had left… and turned around to that maliciously grinning face.

 

He tried to weave one of his grandiose explanations, expertly told and acted out: to get his way without fighting. But all that came out of his mouth were undercooked pieces of words and incomplete stammers, marianting in a sea of sweat pouring out of his chattering face.

 

“You’re looking, _real_ nervous too… almost like… Oh I don’t know… **you kill anybody recently?”**

[He knows....](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGqvpMQQ48o)

He knew it… Brainz could only wonder now, if he could see right through him, the lies hiding inside of him. He just glared at Gerson, every intention and every instinct was fixated on him. This was going to be bad, there was no stopping it: only bracing for it.

 

“In fact… I know for certain, that the _entire_ underground has **ONE** coat like that, just one…”

 

Finally, the malicious turtle’s voice dropped lower than it had ever: and with an outstretched claw. His assumption… became condemnation and mocking.

“And I don’t think I particularly like seeing it… on **you,  “** Odysseus”.

 

Brainz began to hyperventilate, the air was becoming suffocating: it felt like there was less of it to go around, with the walls feels _so_ much closer than ever before. The turtle… it _knew,_  it knew  _everything!!_ Even the bluff from the Odyssey! How did it know?!  It had known all along, and only kept that friendly facade just to _play_ with Brainz. But now that it was all in the open… Gerson didn’t see a reason to stop...

“ _What,_ with all that **_red_ ** on your hands?-”

 

Brainz felt helpless to his own body… he knew he couldn’t resist from looking down at them… stained with red and marred by culpability. Everyone could see them, there was no hiding it.

“- it’ll be dust stained before you _ever_ leave.”

 

The harassment was full fledged, it was a threat and Brainz finally snapped, the fight flaring into his eyes, he jerked his body into his own accusative point. 

“Yeah? What’s it to _ya!?”_

 

Gerson smirked at the attempt for intimidation, and he gave Brainz what he wanted to hear so bad. But he wasn’t even addressing him.

“I never quite forgave her for what she did… but you…. I think _you’ll_ do. When she comes and strikes you down.”

 

The smug look he finished it off with, so certain: so cosigning. It put Brainz into a frenzy, he stormed erratically right up to the counter, forgetting to be scared, forgetting to feel caught: all he could feel was contempt and frustration. He demanded furiously, his veins protruding under his skin: pushing liquid fury.

 

“Oh _yeah?!?  WHO!?_

Fucking tell me, you’re so sure of yourself!

Why don’t you tell me who you think is going to “strike me down”?!

That **_BITCH_ ** that stole this jacket before me?!

Is it HER?

Is that what you think?!”

 

Both of his hands slammed down onto the rocktop as he near lunged over at the shopkeeper, snarling behind his clenched teeth with every warm breath. Gerson refused to so much as react, just to stare at him damningly… with the exception of that sly grin pulling up on his mouth.

 

“Why don’t you fucking TELL ME?!

_Huh?!_

_Tell me,_ you motherfucker!!

You wanna fucking tell me, or are you just gonna sit there with that stupid fucking smile?!

I will fucking come over this rock, and I’ll _make_ you tell me!”

He waited for the response, shaking with rage and riddled with icy cold sweat.

 

Gerson was in no hurry to answer, he had something to say about that: but he took his time… it didn’t matter how volatile Brainz looked. It wouldn’t have made a single difference. So he licked his lips and looked at Brainz, dead into the fiery red stars. Never so casual.

“You know something… **_sonny?_ ** I’ve lived far too long to be afraid of something like **_you.”_ **

 

Brainz stopped screaming and his body went unusually steady, he brought his voice down just a step lower than Gerson. Ever so gently a question just under his breath as he towered over him.

“Is that… _so?_

You think you can take me?”

 

Then a whisper, as soft as ever: hiding the flames.

“Is _that_ what you think?”

 

Gerson chortled lightly, and begun shaking his head as he did.

“A ha ha… no, I don’t think so: sonny. I don’t got one more fight in these old bones… you’d like that, wouldn’t you? Ha…. sorry to disappoint, It'd only take one blow from you and  then I’d be… well…”

 

His face squinted and made its final smug expression.

“... Just try it, _sonny._ I **_know_ ** you can’t… not here…

Wah ha-”

* * *

 

Without warning, Gerson was hurled from the counter. Brainz had hit him in the face with the suckerpunch, retrieving his arm from his pocket and smashing him with all of his might thrown into an uppercut. The blow sounded like a firecracker exploding inside of a pot, red mist burst from the impact.

[You can't in here...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNBo4vSMVDI)

The turtled landed on his shell and wouldn’t come to a stop until it finished teetering and spinning from the impact, its headwear touched down on the ground, spattered with red dust.

 

Brainz climbed over the counter panting and wheezing, he approached the downed monster and gazed down upon him with the same condescending look he’d received.

“What were you saying?”

 

He heard a low moan come from the turtle, as it tried to perk its head up, weakly and shakily moving… when it barely managed open its eyes… all it could witness the tall man in the purple coat with red hands, he looked at the redder one… sprinkled with dust and Gerson's eyes strained and widened with a look of pain before closing again. Like he’d witnessed the most horrible thing he could think of, and then gave up.

 

Brainz couldn’t see if he caused any long lasting damage… but for some reason, the frail victim was covered in dust… it wasn’t like this earlier… it came out of nowhere. Perhaps the shop was unkept and Gerson picked it all up as he tumbled in the back.

 

Finally, over his own hammering pulse and fleeting breaths he heard a croak from it… as the mouth trembled, the voice was weak now… tired and bitter… but so weak and interrupted by coughs and gasps… it was barely coherent.

 

“You got me… good job… _sonny…_

you know..., a long time ago…. Asgore and I…he-

  
revenge is a- terrible …..thing...

  
..but he may be right..  
..though…  
.. _no_......escape..”

 

His head went back to the ground with a thud… he never moved again after that.

 

Brainz scoffed and continued to attempt for his breath.

“That’s what you get… next time, _think_ before you talk shit.”

He muttered the last part.

“ _Rotten old bastard.”_

But Brainz discovered that he wasn’t refuted or met with a comeback for a good minute, it made him grin spitefully as he prodded at the limp body with his boot.

“What’s the matter? Got no more witty remarks for me?”

 

Gerson didn’t, the lack of opposition suddenly made Brainz lose his sadistic grin, because the turtle was beginning to look less like the asshole who deserved every bit of it: and more like an unconscious old man Brainz just assaulted. He still found the frustration in him to scoff again still breathless, but sounding back to his normal temperament.

 

“Wow… guess you weren’t kidding, so tell me this: if you knew you couldn’t take one measly punch… why’d you open your stupid mouth? "I can't do that here" Yeah right...

… Fucking idiot…”

 

Truth be told he was only ranting like this to stay angry, he knew if it faded away, it would be replaced by a horrible sensation that he just couldn’t take… however, that may have been inevitable… because the body was still motionless… too still to be a knockout.  

 

Brainz swallowed something hard in his throat, it went down like gravel and it hit him with a shiver when it hit the pit of his stomach.

“Cmon… I didn’t hit you _that_ hard… did I?”

 

He looked away from the static thing just to look at the hand that did it. It ran with red… of its many cuts, some of them were reopened from the trauma… the knuckles were almost black, bruised. But what stood out the most, wasn’t the blood or the dust powdering his fingers… but the weapon clenched by his index and middle finger. The cat knuckles… their pointed ears were dripping with scarlet dust.

 

Brainz shuddered and immediately removed it from his hand, making hurried looks between it and the person he’d struck with it. Then a fretful question for himself, done in a frantic whisper.

“Why did I do that?! Fuck! I didn’t want to fuck him up _that_ much… he’s just a old man!-”

 

The knuckles were clumsily shoved back into a pocket: he turned back to the body and placed both of his hands on his head… peppering his hair with red.

“Oh my god… what have I done? Did I fucking kill him?

 **_Did-_ ** I- fucking- _kill-_ him… oh fuck.”

 

He dropped down… to Gerson’s aid, ironic considering just a minute ago he couldn’t have cared less for him: what a hypocrite. His breathing sped up again, increments of panicked expletives.

 _“_ Oh fuck..

Oh fuck…

Ohh fuck…

Ohhh fuck…”

 

It continued as hs Brainz placed an arm under the turtles wrinkled neck, supporting his damaged head, only now he could see the extent of what he did, the large cracks forming in the beak: almost akin to breaking someone’s jaw… there were two of them: one made from each cat ear. His regular blow couldn’t have hoped to do this much… and what he actually did… turned out to be worse than he anticipated. He kept hyperventilating, and speaking in this solicitous… inexplicably calm voice to keep him from shouting.

“C'mon man… you’re not dead, _that_ was not enough to kill you… you’re going to jump up at _any_ second and kick my ass...   _please?”_

 

Brainz didn’t even pay much mind to what he was _saying_ , listen to him! He was asking for something bad to happen to him, he caused this to happen out of anger in the sake of preserving himself and his face: but now here he was… holding the fruits of his work and regretting it all the way… and like always: it was too late to go back.

 

He wiped off his one hand the best he could on his pants, and placed its two prominent fingers right under Gerson’s chin… desperately trying to find a pulse… yelling frustradely when he couldn’t get anything… either on an account that his hands were shaking too much to steady… or that there _was_ no pulse to be found.

“No! I did _not_ kill him!

I did _NOT_ fucking kill him!

Please, god, NO!...

... _wait!...”_

 

One last option, Brainz brushed his hair away from his untorn ear and crouched down, placing it right above the damaged beak… trying to tune out the ringing and his own thunderous pulse that mocked him.

 

_Nothing._

 

The panic became full fledged terror, thousands of thoughts stampeded over each other, all yelling and screaming in his head, begging for him to try something… he saw himself prying one of the wrinkled eyelids open. Seeing a tarnished yellow eye, the glow… long gone behind the foggy surface. The eye that stared at everything… but saw nothing… _blind…_ even before his death.

Brainz refused to stop, he found himself frantically moving his hands atop of Gerson’s chest… but before he’d even go to risk breaking his ribs… he was finally hit back with that peculiar feeling again… the one that came… looking at his own red hands: leaving red handprints on the chest.

 

There was nothing Brainz could do… the monster was dead.

When gerson said he couldn’t take one blow from him… he wasn’t lying…nothing he said was a lie, the reason it frenzied Brainz so much was because it was _all_ true. In his attempt to hide from it, in an attempt to keep lying: in an attempt to never accept it… he killed a frail old man. 

 

Brainz slowly stood up and backed away from the body… cowering away from his own two hands… continuing in a trance until he bumped into the counter and almost jumped from the contact: spinning around and facing the doorway… fit for another unpleasant surprise and he could see above it: something metallic had been mounted on the wall… a display only meant for the occupant to see.

 

He squinted, quivering still:

The delta rune found him again… proudly holding to a torn up tabard dressing a tarnished suit of armor… appearing to belong to medieval times… it had seen far better days.

 _How old was he?_ _  
_ _What did he do?_

A warhammer rested, married to a battered round buckler. Just above all of this… a metal helmet that far outlived its luster… shaped to allow a protrusion just below the eyes… like a beak.

 

There was something else adorned with these items, like a code embedded into the wood… Brainz had to gradually creep up to it, almost running his hand over the grooves and scratchings… but stopping once his red hand came into view, but he could see it… it was almost as plain as day: glaring into him.

 

_REMEMBER_

 

Then below it, the child of the scrawling… done by a child herself.

_Undyne. Squire of Captain Gerson, Hammer of Justice_

**_~~War hero~~  _ ** **_War has no heros._ **

 

It all came into fruition now, falling together into the terribly reality of it… all Brainz needed to do was look back. Look back and see the look on Gerson’s cold face… inexplicably peaceful considering his end. The look of someone who’d seen everything… finally freed from it all. He’d seen that look before… the smiling dead, the weight of life lifted off of their shoulders.

 

There was no honor in this, nothing to be won: no glory. All he had done, was murder a war veteran in cold blood. Just when he thought he had reached the deepest depths of horror, it had gotten worse. It was the most horrible thing he could think of… it was funny as hell.

 

He began to quiver faster and faster, twitching at a growing frequency until his gasps and sobs for air turned into chuckles, an anxious titter. It  only grew as he paced around the room soaking it all in… soon enough, it was full fledged hysterical laughter. The halls outside boomed with the sound of his cachinnation. Brainz stomped and swung his arms madly around the room as it became frantic as he hyperventilated and grew light headed.

 

Just as he would give in to the lack of oxygen, his fists slammed violently against the counter, just as his guffaws turned into loud, _aggrieved_ yells. He roared and screamed, rasping his agony: expletive after expletive… damning himself, damning the world: damning it all to hell with each strike: spattering the dust covered counter with more of his blood.

 

_“THIS… is what I GET?!_

**_THIS?!!?-”_ **

 

Suddenly, he stopped pounding: the quivering merged into a gigantic breath as his reared his shoulders up and spread his arms from his head.

“- _I DIDN’T WANT_

**_THII-IIIIIIII-IIIIIIS!!!!!!!”_ **

 

His rage exploded into vocal fireworks that screamed and roared through the caverns, Brainz collapsed to his knees from the exertion on his tarred lungs and withered body. He didn’t get up for a long time… content to sit there: wallowing in it… shaking, almost like crying: but a tear would never find itself on his face… only that large rictus grin that tried to reach his ears. When he could feel the last of the despair going numb… he couldn’t have smiled any wider.

 

There was nothing left for him to do: he’d already done it all to the old man. It was all his fault, he deserved it... they  _all_ did.  That being said…Brainz got up… brushed himself off: and walked straight out of the room. He kept walking straight, and never looked back.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	19. Unforeseen Benevolence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ｗａｒ．  
> Ｌｏｓｓ．
> 
> Ｋｉｎｄｎｅｓｓ．  
> Ｃｈａｒｉｔｙ．
> 
> Tʜɪs sɪᴅᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ɢʀᴏᴡ ᴛᴀʟʟᴇʀ,  
> ₐₙd ₜₕᵢₛ ₛᵢdₑ wᵢₗₗ ₘₐₖₑ yₒᵤ ₛₕₒᵣₜₑᵣ.
> 
> The path winds ｅｎｄｌｅｓｓｌｙ  
> Bʟᴜᴇ ＦＬＡＳＨＥＳ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅɪsᴛᴀɴᴄᴇ.
> 
>  
> 
> ᴼⁿˡʸ ᵃ ᶠᵉʷ ᶠᶦⁿᵈ ᵗʰᵉ ʷᵃʸ.  
> ˢᵒᵐᵉ ᵈᵒⁿ’ᵗ ʳᵉᶜᵒᵍⁿᶦᶻᵉ ᵗʰᵉ ᵖᵃᵗʰ.  
> ᴬⁿᵈ ˢᵒᵐᵉ …̷̧̘̘̥͔̔̋̓ͅ…̴̨̜̗̝̹̲̞̝̈̇͘͝.̴̫̳̲͉̣̑̌̈́̈́̄̃ d̵o̵n̴'̶t̷ ̸w̷a̴n̷t̷ ̸t̶o̵
> 
>  
> 
> ᴬ ᶜᵒᵐᶠᵒʳᵗᶦⁿᵍ ʰᵒˡᵈ  
> ₐ ᴅᴀʀᴋᴇɴɪɴɢ cₒᵣᵣᵢdₒᵣ.
> 
>  
> 
> Guilt is to the Spirit  
> What pain is to the Body
> 
> B̵̭̒̍̄̐͌Ų̸͉̉̍̒̏̇Ť̶̻̲͝ ̴̝̰͉͙̭͊N̵̩̖̹̤̳͑̇͌́O̶͓̘͚̣͑̈̆̎̀B̷͍̻̰̳̲̑̈́͐̆̈Ǫ̷̜͔̘̊̈͘D̸̗̓̈̓̒Y̵̯͓̮̰͕̾͐ ̷̛͚̉̀̽͑C̴̹̆͆͑Ạ̸̡̙̀M̷͎͛͋ͅE̴̼̠̻̍̈̋͗
> 
> ＣＯＵＮＴ ＹＯＵＲ ＳＩＮＳ
> 
>  
> 
> Ａ̵̹̞̳̯̳̭͋͐͒͑͜ͅＮ̸̨̭̤̜̫͇̟̰̬̽̈́̅͆̓͐͛̅͒̈́͌̓̋Ｄ̴̡͙̗̘̤̬̯͑̆ ̶͙̠͉̘̼̼̺̺̣̬̖̐̈́̐̽̈̊Ｓ̵̧̣̠̯̪̮͇̖͙͈͗̕Ｕ̴̧̗̯̼̲̘͔̲͑̉̄̀̈͜͠Ｆ̴̲̗̺̲͕̋Ｆ̸̧̢̛̼͇͔̹͔̳̟͚͙͇͎͈̲̍̔̾̃͐͋͝Ｅ̶̧̟̣̭̮̥͙̱̎̎Ｒ̶̨̭͚̗̘̰̦̪͔̖͔̎̐̏̎ ̸̡̡̼̬̭͎̯̩̹̝̋̄͌̄̾̀̇̏̃͠͠
> 
>  
> 
> Ʀ̴̛̦̀͗ᴇ̶͍̄ᴅ̸̡̪̩̄͌̆ᴀ̴̧͖͗̍ͅᴄ̶̫̠̓ᴛ̵̡̹͗͝ᴇ̸̮̉͛̽ᴅ̷̧̍̓̏ ʰᵃᵈ ᵃ ᵍʳᵉᵃᵗ ᶠᵃˡˡ.
> 
> ᴬˡˡ ᵗʰᵉ ᴷᶦⁿᵍ’ˢ ʀ̴̛̦̀͗ᴇ̶͍̄ᴅ̸̡̪̩̄͌̆ᴀ̴̧͖͗̍ͅᴄ̶̫̠̓ᴛ̵̡̹͗͝ᴇ̸̮̉͛̽ᴅ̷̧̍̓̏ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵃˡˡ ᵗʰᵉ ᴷᶦⁿᵍ’ˢ ʀ̴̛̦̀͗ᴇ̶͍̄ᴅ̸̡̪̩̄͌̆ᴀ̴̧͖͗̍ͅᴄ̶̫̠̓ᴛ̵̡̹͗͝ᴇ̸̮̉͛̽ᴅ̷̧̍̓̏
> 
> Cₒᵤₗdₙ’ₜ ᵖᵘᵗ ʀ̴̛̦̀͗ᴇ̶͍̄ᴅ̸̡̪̩̄͌̆ᴀ̴̧͖͗̍ͅᴄ̶̫̠̓ᴛ̵̡̹͗͝ᴇ̸̮̉͛̽ᴅ̷̧̍̓̏ bₐcₖ ᵗᵒᵍᵉᵗʰᵉʳ ᵃᵍᵃᶦⁿ

The ripples went on, born from his actions, such smalls transgressions: they carried them so far away, they could go on forever before things would calm again as the shockwaves traveled further and further. But things wouldn't be the same, not for a long time.

 

Brainz pulled his hands from the frigid waters he disturbed, he had been given a dead end from his brief stint of walking. Small shore opening into a river that seemed to stretch endlessly on both sides, illuminated by the soft glow of crystals embedded in the rock walls: they shined like twilight.  

 

What an analogy to be had, when he arrived: the waters were perfectly still: undisturbed and unburdened, then he came and he plunged his red hands into the harmony, done in selfishness and distrust. He had tried to purge himself of the red, the evil that clung to him… but all he did was spread it, watching it cloud into the disarray he caused. All it took was the smallest of intrusions, for the disturbance to become far spread. How long would it be, until the river flowed pure again? How long until the surface was free from its stirring. It would have to be long… _long_ after he was gone, if he wasn’t the only one to come, that is.

 

It left him with a shivering feeling as the cold reality stuck to his flesh. The smile on his face was long gone, it’d vanished when he ran into the red eyed monster again: it was waiting for him behind the reflective surface, even distorted by ripples. There was no more fear to it though, only disgust and contempt, he hated it more than anything in the world… those red burning eyes and jagged teeth glaring up at him. When he looked back of course, it was gone… replaced by a bitter, _sad_ old thing. Lime and scarlet eyes staring up at him with such a desire for an absolution... that would never come.

 

Brainz took a solemn sigh and stood up from the riverbank: his hands were dried the best he could do: and the remainder of the stolen cloth sought to replace the first bandages: to cover up the spread of his poison to the world… as if it mattered. The damage was already done, all he could do was keep going. He needed to leave this place, he didn’t belong: the longer he stayed: the worse it became,  _the more they suffered._

 

So he turned back the way he came… forced to the entrance of the sin he’d committed: he refused to look in, he refused to acknowledge it any further: shielding his eyes with a cold pale hand as he turned down the path, leaving his past to sit and fester behind like a rotting corpse gathering flies.

 

It was so quiet now, not minding his footsteps… there was no more crying, and the aggregated shouts from afar were gone, Brainz had nothing, his thoughts tried to ravage him: angry and upset but, he tried abandon them back with what he’d done: all they would do is slow him down, the unbearable burden that he had killed someone. All he could do was keep walking, keep walking and forget the pain.

 

Keep going... _don’t stop._

_Never stop, never look back._

 

His solitude was eventually broken by the gentle sound of running water, the room provided distractions again: starting with the first placard of that bizarre scripture he’d seen since his second fall. He was almost certain that reading it would only make him feel worse… he deserved to feel worse. So he entered the red world with a closed eye and made out what it had to say.

 

_Hurt, beaten, and fearful for our lives, we surrendered to the humans._

_Seven of their greatest magicians sealed us underground with a magic spell._

_Anything can enter through the seal, but only beings with a powerful SOUL can leave._

 

“It doesn’t… make any sense…”

Brainz felt his voice fall to pieces on him, as he trembled and shook.

“ _It doesn’t… make any,_ **_sense…._ ** Why…. _oh god..._ ”

 

He began forcing his depressed groans into angry grunts, forcing the horrible tightness behind his eyes and throat down into him, retching in the process and almost falling over. The extra pang of unguided guilt did him in… the straw that broke the camel’s back. A large… quivering breath that held back the urge to sob, and he straightened himself up again. It was just a belated reaction… one more feeling to isolate himself from. He’d done it before… but never feeling so sick.

“... not for a war vet…

_Made me do it…_

_I’m sorry..._

_Stop… please..”_

 

He tied to refocus, to think about something else: anything to make the vacuum inside of him stop. He tried to remember the past signs… their crazy bad-dream voodoo scrawlings: anything would be better than the wounds, so fresh and raw he inflicted on himself. A mournful voice came out of him between wobbling gasps and hiccups.

“I-i wonder… if he hated me… because I was _me._ Or because I was just a human… I don’t even know anymore… I’m _both…_ uuueghh-”

 

He felt himself lock up, circling that wailing question to himself: then the sharpest pain he’d ever felt in his stomach caused him to clench it and double over, straining to even speak.

“My… insides… **_hurt_ ** **.”**

He felt the hurt rising up his throat and had to support himself against the wall as his knees began to fail. He was afraid this would happen sooner or later, but he couldn’t stop it: large mouthfuls of red vomit splattered to the ground and ran down the wall. Everytime he felt an end to it, another retch would expel even more into the glowing red puddle.

 

It halted eventually, reduced to convulsing burps and burning hiccups: Brainz felt the acid eating at his emptied insides and gave up his arm on the wall: sliding down against it, barely paying mind to the foul smelling puddle he created just inches away. His bat was pushed loose from the friction and it clattered to the ground.

 

He needed to sit there for a minute, wheezing and spitting residual gobs of red saliva. It was over now: he looked over to the red he expelled. It didn’t even look like undigested stomach contents… just red liquid: an alarming amount of it. If it was blood, then Brainz had lost a fifth of it in one go. Yet… as concerning as this almost radioactive looking vomitus was… he felt better that it was out of him… it wasn’t normal, he didn’t need the red eye to see it like so.

 

But now that it was over, and he had plenty of room in the pit of his stomach to push his guilt: Brainz was able to think straight… and felt almost a sense of unforseen relief, that he’d gotten this out of his system. Because suddenly, everything didn’t feel so much more horrible. He still puffed for air.

“Huh… heuh… hahh… I feel… I feel a little bit better _better,_ actually. Yeah… Kinda do.”

 

But yet, he became frank with himself: coming to this next conclusion almost _objectively…_ like the horrible suctioning inside of him had been turned off. That he found it possible to isolate himself from how it felt finally.

“I killed someone... I said it.... I _killed_ someone. Or at least I _know_ I killed this one...."

He felt numb... like there was nothing else it could instill in him: so he had to remind himself what it felt like.

"I’m still a horrible, horrible person- probably got six more feet into hell for that.... but he had it coming… he knew what he was getting into: so why did he push me? And now someone’s gonna come by and blame it all on me and it’s gonna look _really_ bad… but I’m _already_ “Public Enemy No.1” so why am I bellyaching over this? I'm already done for."

 

Strangely, he felt like he could answer this before, but now: he couldn’t think of a reason: only something on the fly when he tried to shift himself back together and felt the rounded lump in his pocket, pulling out one of his firebombs and grunting dismissively.

“I drank too much… I don’t even know what this shit is..

Whatever… let’s get up."

 

He put it away and tried for his feet.

_Easy… Eaaasy… easy does it._

 

Slowly and unsteadily, with a good amount of grunting and small falters in balance: Brainz worked his way up to his feet: his head was still an absolute mess, with his equilibrium disoriented to the point he almost felt _seasick._ Probably because the water and rocking world made him think of it. Brainz had to bend over again, to collect his fallen weapon, the bending wasn’t good for his aching stomach either.

“Euuugh…”

Neither was the fact that his weapon was partially covered in the new red he threw up, nevermind blood: he was already lousy with it. But vomit? It was gross no matter what. Luckily for him, there was a large stream of running water just ahead: so he took the opportunity to rinse his weapon with it… the vomit dissipated but the existing red was just a little too stubborn to come off. Like it was tattooed to the wood. It couldn’t have been dried because the glowing hot, _fresh,_ red coat was still there. But it refused to come off.

 

He just shrugged, it wasn’t too much of a big deal: carrying a bat sticky with his own blood. So he fiddled with it until he slipped it back into his holster, and returned to the sign that caused his nervous breakdown, this time more mindful not to step in his own puke. He took a deep breath and cracked his neck joints.

“Okay, where were we.”

He read the scripture again, with a much more isolated conscience.

 

_Hurt, beaten, and fearful for our lives, we surrendered to the humans._

_Seven of their greatest magicians sealed us underground with a magic spell._

_Anything can enter through the seal, but only beings with a powerful SOUL can leave._

 

“Hmmmph..”

His head was still fuzzy and cloudy, but he tried to remember what the last signs read… he was only able to come to it by remembering his skeptical reactions to them and smirking at how difficult he was being to himself, but finally he recalled one of the first ones he’d read: when he wasn’t sure if the red eye was real or just a delusion.

 

_Humans are unbelievably strong, it would take the SOUL of nearly every monster… just to equal the power of a single human SOUL._

 

Suddenly… Brainz’s eyes widened some and his mouth hung ajar. Something occurred to him: and he applied it silently: his lips still moved, but no sound came out: it was all in his head.

“Huh… what does that mean? That whackjob statue was talking about using me to cross a barrier… is that what he meant? Is this something like… _people_ can cross it but for some reason these idiots can’t?... well that’s kind of weird… hmm. What does the next one say?”

 

Brainz could see two more identical placards in the wall just down the room, he strolled up to the next one and closed his eye.

_There is only one way to reverse this spell._

_If a huge power, equivalent to seven human SOULs, attacks the barrier…_

_It will be destroyed._

 

This served to prove what he just said, again: he pondered it and only mouthed the conversation.

“Okay, that _is_ what they meant by this “Barrier” okay. God though… is that why everyone wanted to kill me?-”

 

He broke his streak of keeping it to himself and made the gestures and stuttering to interrupt himself: holding his hands up and moved his hands to and fro like pistons.

“- Uh-buhb-buh-ba _Before,_ I gave them a _legit_ reason to kill me I mean, that they wanted to kill a _human…_ not ‘The human who shot that one guy, then then the other, _then_ committed a burglarizing spree, and then killed a defenseless old man’… no.”

 

“- I mean… why do they keep capitalizing the word ‘soul’? Its gotta be important then… _shit,_ I remember making a comment about this being like  “Highlander” where they’re going to kill me and absorb my soul… I think that's what it  _IS_ though-"

 

He finally heard his thoughts come back to him and dismissed them with an unbelieving,

“ _What?-”_

Out loud now.

“-what am I talking about, that’s just stupid-”

 

But the more he thought about it, the less he was willing to just discard it for “bullshit”... only because: it _would_ explain the reception he was getting.

“- _right?_ God… I don’t know… I mean, that’s just: no one wants my soul, it's already spent: I'm already going to hell-”

 

Just as he was about to get hopelessly entangled in something illogical, a small piece of it struck him the wrong way and it made Brainz sneer his face and attitude.

“ _Wait_ a minute… so that idiot back at the house was was going to kill me with his pathetic little attacks there, take my so called “soul” out of my body… then use it like a ticket to leave this place, and _then_ what?

What did he think he was going to do again? Sit in a department store or something?”

 

Brainz remembered how to be sarcastic again, but he felt anger venting out of him... misplaced, but it had to come out.

“ _Oh yeah!_ Great fucking plan there. What does he think will happen when people see a raggedly old dummy like that hopping around on his own accord and holding conversations with them? Pft..

I think the farthest he’d go would be looking out of a cell door in “Area 51” or something… fucking government would _neeever_ let that slide, they’re everywhere.”

 

Brainz shook his head disappointedly and reinstated his previous opinion about this: while rolling up his jeans so he could cross the water.

“Great… fucking… plan…. _Gahhh…”_

 

The water was a touch deeper than he expected and it went up to his knees, subjecting anything lower to that icy cold embrace: Brainz sighed annoyedly.

“God dammit… I _just_ got dry… oh well. At least it’s _clean_ water.. Ugh my boots are gonna squish again… ugh: I hate that.”

 

He went up to the final sign.

_But this cursed place has no entrances or exits._

_There is no way a human could come in here._

_We will remain trapped down here forever._

 

This one took him a bit differently, it seemed less like a history lesson (Albeit because it was _wrong)_ and more like a bleak statement.

“Who even wrote these?’

 

It did put some things into perspective though, that much Brainz had to admit… his head was starting to come back to its loose hold on reality, and he was able to vaguely concatenate the information he’d picked up into a story.

 

* * *

 

The war… somewhere and some time ago: all of these creatures used to live atop of earth’s surface instead of right below it… apparently they existed at the same time as humans.

 

But there was something about how when humans died, that these things could take their soul and consume it or something… and when they did, it would make them more powerful.

 

Brainz only remembered that last bit because of that drawing he saw, the one with the long horns and pointed teeth… it also had a delta rune on it… that’s _right…_ he could remember it so  _vividly_ like it was chiseled into the folds of his brain. That depiction of that  _horrible_ beast... he couldn't get it out of his mind.

 

Anyway, humans _really_ did not like this: they couldn’t trust these things if they could just up and take the souls of the dead and make themselves bigger and stronger than people… that seemed like a fair enough concern…

 _But no…:_ that middle ages look on the armor he saw… that gave a pretty good guess to when this so called _war_ could’ve happened: if there was one thing he barely remembered from history books it was this:

_Humans SUCKED back then, all of them were composed of self righteous lunatics wielding swords and shields._

 

That one sign said that humans declared war on _them,_ which would make sense… but it would leave everything else up in a flux. Didn’t the middle ages only happen in Europe? Y’know… Christopher Columbus and 1492 and… stuff like that.

 

How did they end up in America?

Hmm.

 

But one thing was for certain, these creatures faced ill persecution their whole lives it seemed: beaten down by the hands of selfish humans. And now, here Brainz was... about to repeat history: and doing so with such a jaundiced demeanor,  _selfishness,_ and lies... he deserved them, but they didn't deserve him or what he wrought-"

* * *

 

“Wait!

WHAT- am I, SAYING??

These idiots could be making this shit up! Let alone _stretch-ching_ the truth!

Yeah: ‘The _BIG, BAD_ Brainz’ a subsidiary of ‘The _BIG, BAD_ humans!’ oh yeah! _THAT_ makes perfect sense because **_of course,_ ** you guys didn’t start SHIT!!”

 

Brainz slapped himself in his face, the stinging in both his hand and his cheek seemed to put some sense back into him and he shook his head at the sign, although it was more for himself.

“I don’t know why I’m making myself out to be the scapegoat, but I don’t gotta take it… fuck this shit.”

 

He had to cross another knee deep stream of liquid ice to proceed begrudgingly. He did have one reason to linger around for just a while longer: being the large group of those recorder flowers he ran into before. Unfortunately, they were out of his reach… and besides: with how loud he became when he shouted to himself, he probably overrode all of them.  

 

Back on the path of most resistance: Brainz trudged through a couple of yards of soulless corridors until he reached a dead end.

“Hm?...”

He looked around for a deviation or something, but considering the terrible lighting that had just befallen on him: he couldn’t see anything except the dark rock wall just beside him. His eyes shifted with a dubious assumption, and he began running his hands over the wall: tapping it and feeling for another false trick.

 

He wouldn’t have been able to feel that he was clever, because his search came up empty: solid walls on all sides… except one: which he almost fell into after misjudging that it actually existed.

“Whoa-whoa- _hey!”_

Brainz regained his footing after he realized the nature of the surface. It wasn’t that the lighting was so poor he couldn’t see it: it just simply wasn’t there… a black void existed before him.

“That’s… unexpected.”

 

He carefully reached into it this time, keeping a good thought on his stance to not fall in: immediately he could feel the different atmosphere inside: slightly colder and without a draft. The air was dead still. Did this part of the world, plainly not exist? How could this be? Brainz felt around for anything to disprove this: when he crouched down and tried to feel below the path he was on, something wet and grassy met his fingers. Of course he yanked his hand away with a slightly startled gasp.

 

His hand seemed fine (Well, fine enough) it was just wet, and not with his own blood. So he carefully felt in the darkness again, and felt the grassy surface: even clutching it and bringing a sample out. He was able to take a look at it in the light: it was just grass, the path didn’t end here: it just changed. He squinted into the darkness, really trying to spot anything… there _was_ something, a small glimmer. Just beyond him…

_It was blue._

 

Brainz silently yelped and jumped back in his path at the sight of anything light blue he couldn’t distinguish. He never knew if he actually killed the thing that held blue death: he remembered putting a giant hole in it: but then it still managing to fight him… it was muggy. So he decided to play it safe and brought out his spray and lighter: _just in case._

 

Brainz peered around the corner again, just barely rearing his head, looking for the glimmer and any signs that it moved. It did not: so he uncovered more of himself and flicked the lighter open: holding the nozzle of the can just behind its intricate flame. He engaged in a silent stare down with this small little speck… as he did, he began to draw a path in his mind judging off the one he could feel with his hand… and either this light was actually _very_ far away… or it was just small.

 

But that’s what she could’ve _wanted_ him to think and then stroll inside haplessly, _that_ wasn’t happening. It wasn’t happening, so much in fact: that Brainz decided to give a warning spritz just in case.

**_*FSSsSHH!!*_ **

 

The can produced a quick flare of hellfire, the glow of it breaking the absolute darkness for just a moment: like a prolonged muzzle flash.

“Wait up a sec…”

 

The brief burst of flame gave him just a glimpse of what was bothering him: while he didn’t quite get a good look. He knew for certain that it wasn’t a crouched woman holding a blue spear for him.

**_*FWOSHH!*_ **

It looked more like like a light bulb it was so small…

**_*FWSSHsH!*_ **

It was definitely close and small, there were actually a couple of them… like luminescent marbles or jellyfish even… Brainz didn’t feel need to use up anymore of his fuel: so he put the can away… his lighter however: he kept it out and he held it just above the strangely pale grass he discovered, just far enough not to catch it on fire. Not that it could anyway, it was almost soaked with dew. He moved the lighter around to see how much slack he had and-

 _“There_ it is… I thought it was gonna be like this.”

 

From what he could see with his meager light, a path adorned with this grass existed, but it couldn’t have been more than two feet wide. Two feet to allow for error before falling off and sending him barreling into the black abyss… probably screaming. It let him proceed with feeling cynical about it.

“ _RRr_ ight.”

 

He stood up and clapped his hands together, sighed and weighed his options.

“So… I can either risk slipping and falling off in here, wandering around because I can’t see two inches in front of my face… _orrrr…_ head back the way I came… get another glimpse of the horrible thing I did… and take the weird plasma blue water path... going god knows where."

 

He sighed again and glowered his face, only because he knew he made up his mind as soon as he came here: he wasn’t going back.

 

“Ohhh fuck me… fuck me, so so _so_ very hard…

 _Alright…_ let's do this, but lets do this _smart_ for once, I haven’t done anything smart lately.”

 

With that ideology, Brainz closed up his jacket, ensuring his things were secure: and then he dropped down and went prone with his lighter in one hand. He embarked on the slow journey of inching his way through, ensuring he gave himself as much surface contact as he could to prevent him from falling off. The grass was cold, wet, and it brushed against his face in an uncomfortable way, but it was this or risking his life. He still wasn’t happy about it.

 

“This is just _ridiculous…_ who in their right mind would design this that you have to crawl and get all dirty and grimy, just so you don’t fall off… not much room for error… don’t ever let your kids out to play… they’ll never come back they come to this place… how is this even supported? I can feel the bottom of this, its like a catwalk made of dirt… you know what? Don’t even question it”

 

He kept crawling, getting nearer to the light.

 

“You know what though?… what happened to that sign? It said “ _HOTLANDS”_ not, “Pitch black, MAZELANDS of sudden death” That’s false advertising… like these things would care… you know too… I just can’t get the feeling out of my head that of _all_ the ways I picked that I’m going the worst way of them all… like if I just double back and actually took that other path: I’d be greeted with a velvet lined elevator to the surface and a pez dispenser full of vicodin… this place _would_ be like that…”

 

After spending ten times as long as walking would’ve taken, Brainz finally arrived at the small light in the ground: he lay with his face just before it and held up the lighter.

“Ok so, what _is_ this its in the way, is what it is”

 

It was mushrooms, a small colony of glowing mushrooms.

“Oh… mushrooms. That’s the first time I’ve seen anything like that in this cave… but why are they glowing like this? _That_ can’t be healthy… especially if my mouth is less than six inches away from it… I better back it up a bit.”

 

As Brainz started to shuffle, one of his hands accidentally struck the thing, while he only brushed it: all of the sudden, the entire colony perked up and the small ember of light grew into a bright, powerful glow: the proximity and the suddenness took Brainz by surprise and he frantically backed up.

“Whoa-whoa-hey! _!-”_

 

In his struggling, he noticed the grass he was laying on suddenly shared the same illumination as the mushrooms: he spasmed and jumped to get to his feet: almost losing his balance in the panicked moment.

“ _Whoa-OOOH!_

 _Oooh!_ Oh god!

Oh god… _Ohhh…._ god.”

 

Brainz steadied himself on his knees, holding out both of his arms to keep him steady. He looked down and back to the mushroom of surprises: the path he was on and even the next one to take was in full illumination now: shining brightly in the dark. This wasn’t all though, there was more of this bright scenery all around him, coming in at random points in the room. They looked like trees made of neon tubes.

He calmed down from the brief excitement, and was able to calmly exclaim his astonishment with the new development in the room: it really was a sight to behold: even looking back, the normal world was nothing but a small portal, surrounded by the dark. It was like he was crawling through a whole other world.

“Wowww…. What _is_ this place?”

It reminded him of the fad that hit children back in the day: those glow in the dark stars their parents would fill their rooms with. When the lights went out, their room would grow into the endless boundaries of space, with their many small sparkles to fill in the darkness… he was always envious of those children… _their_ parents loved them.  

 

Brainz discarded that tidbit for something more prevalent to him.

“Oh shit, did I get any of this on me? This stuff can NOT be safe.”

He patted himself and brushed his clothes, but he didn’t see anything sticking to him: he had full permission to keep moving: only barred by his inhibitions of why everything glew. So what he did to abate the possibility of "Radioactive Mushroom Exposure"  was to pull up his saggy sweater collar over his nose and he began crawling on his fours, following the path that lit up.

 

Either his breath or the fact he’d been soaked in sewer water a while ago: smelled horrible inside of his shirt. He didn’t appreciate it, nor the fact that the path was laden with all sorts of turns and bends… eventually leading up to another group of mushrooms: these ones looked just like the first grouping before they showed their anomalous property. Brainz was more careful this time, he stimulated them by poking the group with his bat: keeping his own distance away and still flinching when they erupted into light.

 

He continued like this for another short distance, crawling and grumbling to himself as his underbelly and pants became progressively soaked and covered with grass. He would’ve had plenty of time to gripe about it, if something actually worth _anxiety_ didn’t greet him.   


 

Out of nowhere, a face: illuminated by the dim blue light stared right into his.

“ **_BAAUGH!”_ **

Brainz launched himself off of his fours and fell right onto his back: almost crushing the mushrooms he desired to avoid, the face began to approach him as he fumbled madly with his coat for a weapon to take out: he never broke his stare with the thing and began to make it out as it grew nearer to the light source.

 

This creature was different than the others from the get go, it was unlike anything he’d ever seen before: in that it was composed of parts from things he _had_ witnessed before. The thing was the size of a small dog, it had a rounded head covered with a full set of hair, _not fur,_ but hair: it had two sets of ears… feline looking ones atop of it and large bulbous looking ones on each side. There was a need to mention too, that it was wearing a blue sweater on its upper half, as well as a big feline looking smile on its face.

 

The abject oddity and the dangerously close quarters of the encounter were enough to make Brainz hyperventilate: shooting his eyes open as he began to feel for the ground behind him: desperate to get some distance: all without saying a word to the thing.

 

Without any warning, the thing manage to speak: putting this cheeky, goofy, _childish_ sounding voice: the pitch being appropriate for the size: the tone of it was something else.

“ _HOI!!!_

i’m tEMMie!!”

 

It was like a telegraph for what it was going to do next, completely cryptic and nonsensical, _especially_ considering what it did right after.

“What…. The ff-uck?”

 

It was like being in a nightmare, scary shapes deteriorating and growing into terrifying monsters, transforming just before your eyes. The “Cat-dog- _thing”’s_ limbs began to elongate like rubber, and the body stretched to five times its length to accommodate for it. It finished changing itself just before Brainz, his panicked wheezes rose dramatically in speed and modulation. He found the path behind him and began pushing himself into a frenzied retreat as the thing towered over him.

 

But it was too late, it began making shuffling strides towards him and within seconds it was completely on top of him. Brainz yelled with fear, he lurched to his feet and swiped the bat off of his back while covering his face with his other arm. In the yell, he made frantic swings with his weapon as he blindly ran backwards: paying no mind to the dangers he’d previously realized. He could hear the footsteps coming down all around him.

 

Then it happened, in his spiraling wave of madly swinging fear, one of Brainz’s feet failed to touch onto solid ground just as he put all of his weight behind him, his yell jolted into an even more panicked and unsuspecting wail as he toppled backwards, arms swinging wildly and balance failing. Soon, the path of light began to leave him as he plummeted into the abyss.

_Not again._

_“NOT_ **_AGAIN!!!_ **

**_NOOOOOOAAAAUUG-_ ** gHLck!!!”

 

In the midst of his screaming, his descent was aborted as something wrapped around his chest and shoulders: the sudden stop knocked the wind out of him, he almost dropped his bat too. Still high in his panic gear, Brainz struggled and tried to see what had rescued him… what had ensnared him.

 

It was the “Temmy” the thing that pushed him to the edge, Brainz could see that youthful looking face staring down at him from the path, one of its elongated limbs extending out and holding onto him. He stared at it in his heavy breathing terror… unsure what was worse: falling into another black void or being caught by this thing… it was _touching him._ The creature spoke again: its voice echoed all the way down to him from aloft.

“SORY!”

 

That voice, it sounded like it was incapable of dubious ambiguity, the sheer innocence in it conveyed intent, like it was actually sorry for what it’d done to Brainz. He only threw the term back at it, too scared to think of anything else as he dangled there.

“ **_SORRY?!”_ **

 

It answered back to his booming rasp.

“YAS!

TeMMIe SORY, KNO HYooMAN ALLERg to TeMS.”

 

Allergic? Come to think of it, Brainz began to feel an itching sensation in his chest, along with a sort of tightness: but that couldn’t been from the acute panicking and screaming. But who cared about _allergies?!_ Not him, not right now: all he could do was spout panicked drivel and scared grunts.

 

“Bu DeeP hoel is DANGr!

bEttr to haV HOIves!”

 

Brainz finally came to the juncture where he could not only think, but he could speak: he decided to agree with the slightly difficult to understand creature he just met. It wasn’t much better, but it was better than falling even deeper in to this place. So he shouted as loud as he could.

“YES!

YES

YES!

MUCH BETTER THAN DYING!!  

IT’S FINE

**JUST PULL ME UP, PLEASE!!!”**

 

He heard one more thing before the head disappeared from the edge.

“OKI!”

 

The long appendage wrapped around him began to retract, rising and pulling him closer to the platform and back to where he was: he was able to anchor his free arm to the bright grass and pull himself back on top with the assistance of the creature.

 

Brainz rolled over onto his back and lay down on the ground, placing his bat beside him. He felt his lungs trying to slow down from the point of bursting as he began to feel faint, clutching his jackhammering heart bellow his chest. He was at a loss for what to do.

 

Brainz closed his twitching eyes for one moment as he slowed down his breathing, when he opened them again: he was staring up into that friendly looking face again: closer the ground… without the long noodle like limbs. He didn’t scream this time or react much, except for his eyes shaping into a defeated gaze.

 

It spoke again, repeating its earlier greeting: still with the same cordial warmness, although less volume this time, it didn’t want to further fright the human.

“Hoi i’m tEMMie...”

 

At his limit for all tolerance and laying down, staring insanity in the face: all Brainz could do was catch a large enough breath and speak back to it.

“Brainz… I’m Brainz.”

 

Its face lit up even more, looking simply delighted.

“human …

you such a…

such a CUTE!!”

 

It called him cute, after everything that just happened and the brief trauma he’d just been spoon fed by it. It called him cute… and here it was looking right into his face: gazing with a smile.

 

So he started laughing, he couldn’t help it: not when the terror was still wearing off. It shared in the laugher. He laughed and laughed until the anxiety fell to a point he could say something other than unintelligible gabble.

 

But all of a sudden, one of its “paws” covered his mouth and cut off his nervous giggling.

“goSh huMn, u nEed sUm TEMFLAKES stAt!”

It was jarring enough to snap him out of the laugh, but he squinted: bewildered: the creature let him speak, and got off of him so he could sit up. He was _really_ uneasy now, because it looked really concerned now: he hadn’t seen a serious expression on its face yet. He asked the loudest question that was screaming into his head.

“ _What?_ What are Tem-flakes???”

 

It stared at him with a solemn look on its face as Brainz got himself back together… he was just a touch hesitant to holster his weapon. The creature took no notice to this, and instead went on about these “Temflakes”

“nUMNums alWayS maek Tem Happi. Yuu need NumNumS-”

 

That didn’t answer the question he had, he only scrunched his face… more at the thought of food with how his stomach felt. But more at the abrupt change of tone.

“What? Uh… no.. No no… I’m fine, _really_ … I am, I don’t need Temf-”

 

“tEM cN share, I taKE yuu to TEM VILLAGE.”

 

In face of everything he’d dealt with in this room, Brainz _really_ tried to weasel out of it by playing along and changing his tone: trying hard to smile, He needed to assume this thing was friendly: just while he was sitting here without a plan or any bearings.

 

“Gosh, you know, that would be _really_ nice, but I’m in a hurry… but I could really use some d-”

 

It wouldn’t have any of it and grabbed him gently by his hand and began tugging at him impatiently and childishly.

“ComE wit me, come wiT mE! pwEEeeeaseE?? tEM want to hELP HuMAN. numNums wIL HElp. Pweease pwEASe PWEasE???”

 

The cat like mouth pouted and wobbled, and Brainz actually saw sparkles in its eyes… forget pissing it off, he ran the risk of breaking its spirits! It was so insistent and eager to take him to its village and he realized he wouldn’t have much of a choice in the matter… so he waved his one hand to get it’s attention and for it to stop.

 

“Okay! Okay! I’ll come with you to your village, and try your Tem flakes! _Easy,_ ok? But just for a little bit, alright? I really gotta get going.”

 

It nodded back with much more enthusiasm-

“Yaya!”

 

-and began walking and leading  him forward through the glowing grass, going forward and more so until it hit the turn in the lit up path… then it kept going forward in a bid to walk right off of the illuminated grass. Brainz called out.

“Whoa whoa.. Hey

What are you doing?

Where are you going??

Hey!

 _You’re going to-...._ Fall… off?”

 

He watched it step onto the darkness as if a path was below it still. It turned back to him and beckoned with one of its ears.

 

Brainz was hesitant to do so, still shaking from his close encounter… was he really dumb enough to follow after it? Walk through the unknown and into some kind of trap waiting to take him away? He knew his head wasn't working right... because he actually trusted it, so much that he went and holstered his bat before following through. He subserviently tried the unseen path too, and to his already established surprise: he was able to traverse it just like the grass itself, and continued to be escorted through the total blackness until he found himself in a whole different area: properly illuminated thank goodness.

“Whoa… talk about camouflage… this is… this is… what is this? Where am I?”

 

There was a sign just by the entrance that answered that for him.

_HOI!!_

_welcome to…_

[TEM VILLAGE!!!](https://puu.sh/AWsA7.png)

 

Brainz looked at his escort with a… face.

“So this is… Tem village, huh?

Nice… place?”

 

He needed to see what he was complimenting exactly, the first thing that came to mind was this huge portrait of a “Temmie” besides a humongous leviathan monster. His first question was answered by his guide.

“Yaya!-”

 

Brainz meekly pointed at the painting, fixated on the huge beast.

“That thing isn’t real, right?”

But his second question was overlooked as his guide gestured to a group of identical looking “Temmies”

“CoME! Mett! Mi FrENDs!”

He was still looking at the painting and frowning meekly too-

“It’s not? Right? Not real?”

-before being pulled away.

 

They lined up, and the guide introduced the first of the bunch.

“Dis is my fRend, Temmie!”

“Temmie” greeted Brainz

“Hoi, I’m Temmie!”

 

Brainz raised a brow, but went with it respectively.

“Uh… hello, Temmie.”

 

“Temmie” then turned to the next in line.

“And dis is my Frend, Temmie!”

 

The brow went down… he already saw where this was going, like a bad sitcom, he sounded less enthusiastic and more tired.

“Hello, Temmie.”

 

Temmie moved over to the next in the line.

“And diS is my ODER frend-”

 

Brainz wanted to move it along faster.

“-Temmie, I presume.”

 

Both of them gasped with wonder and one of them widened their eyes.

“Ooooo, yu alredy Kno nams alredY!, Yuu SmARt!”

 

Brainz took the compliment flatly and he took the liberty of moving to the last “Temmie” Pointing his finger.

“And let me guess, you must be-”

 

He let the creature finish the sentence, expecting to be pleasantly unsurprised: instead a voice that didn’t match with the others: far deeper than Brainz himself: met him with.

“Bob.”

Brainz finger went flaccid and so did his streak of guessing: he didn’t find this to be amusing.

“ _Really…_ I mean, nice to meet you.”

 

There were more “Temmies… and bobs.” in the room, minding their own business, be it staring at a hardboiled egg, sitting around a mushroom with eyes, or hiding inside of a wall fissure. All commercing around a massive statue dedicated to… _a very famus TEM!!!!!!_ There was also another one of those weird empty boxes.

“Man… what’s the _deal_ with these anyway? Why do I keep running into these?”

 

But as for looking like a trap, this could've been exempt from that: it looked  _friendly._ All those smiling faces, all unburdened even from his presence. It was surreal, and the whacky decor helped this feeling... he felt...  _something,_ but it wasn't danger: not that much of it anyway.

 

Brainz felt a tug at one of his hands, he looked down to see a Temmie, unsure if it was _his_ Temmie anymore.

“Yeah?”

 

The thing turned him towards a depression in the wall besides them, decorated with signs, one with a large exclamation mark.

“ComE wit me! We check out te TEM shop, Git yuu, NumNums!”

 

He looked to large “!” sign above the claustrophobic looking crevice.

“In there…”

“Yaya!”

“It’s safe?”

“Yaya!”

“What's with the sign then?

“Yaya!”

 

It didn’t matter, he knew he was going to walk in there the moment Temmie wanted him to. He was in for the entire ride: there was no changing that. He’d have to humor them until they were done with him, so he followed it into the crevice. This could've been where it all fell down, where he was too stupid to realize an obvious trap. 

 

“Oh… this isn’t so bad actually.”

 

It was just a shop. The place actually looked like a legitimate retail store. Well… more like a garage sale of random junk, but it looked legitimate and unquestionably like it was built by a young mind. Especially by the cardboard box decorated with paint and all sorts of drawings. Certainly not threatening.

_TEM SHOP._

 

“Hoi!

welcom to…

da TEM SHOP!!!”

 

Brainz suppressed a startled gasp as out from the box came the clerk: a “Temmie” of similar appearance and look, except this one had a striped sweater on… and was panting at Brainz like an excited dog.

“Uhhhh…”

He began to stammer, forgetting why he was in here in the first place: being stared at the way he was, really wasn’t helping

His Temmie gave him a hand and did the talking for him, climbing up to the box.

“Hoi! Dis iS my huuMAn frEnDs, tHey neDS thE nUMNUms.”

 

The shopkeeper glanced away from Temmie and took another good look at Brainz, squinting at him.

“Mmmmmm, suCH a cuTE!-”

 

Again with the cute, he was already feeling uncomfortable enough in here.

“- bU HuMaN haVe MuNS? TeM neeDs Muns  tO Go to COLleg, gEt eDUcaTon.”

While it was speaking, Brainz could see a large jar just behind them, it had a similarly misspelled label, but it was full of gold coins: almost to the brim. That really opened his eyes, especially when he processed what the creature was saying and realized he didn’t have any money. Regardless if these creatures accepted US currency, Brainz didn’t have his wallet because it mysteriously vanished after he’d gotten his pants mended.

 

“Hmm…”

He pondered that last bit for a little long, and was poked for attention to bring him back.

“Hhuh? Oh, sorry… I’m broke… I don’t have any money.”

 

They both treated him with a sad sort of look, all he could do was shrug innocently: he really couldn’t do anything about that. Now as far as bartering went, he wasn’t willing to part with anything: not when he still needed them, he took this as an opportunity to excuse himself though.

“It’s alright though, don’t worry about it: I appreciate the hospitality anyway, but I really should get going.”

 

He began to back away slowly and casually, but he didn’t quite earn the right to do so, his escort jumped up.

“Wait! HuMAn nO Go! HUmAn waIT hERE!’

 

Brainz gave a weary sigh and was about to work on his case, but his escort went up to the shopkeeper, they were whispering something one of the ears. This was a little concerning… more so with how the shopkeepers eyes widened big time: then focused solely on Braninz… before they disappeared into the box. His escort turned to him with that goofy, content looking smile.

 

Brainz was beginning to feel his neurosis getting the best of him, despite the lack of hostility in here,  he went to the escort for help.

“Err… _what_ did you say to them? What’s going on?”

 

But they wouldn’t answer him, they were content to just stare at him like that until the shopkeeper emerged from the box, bringing out a small baggie. Again, he really wanted to know.

“Dude… what did you _say_ to them? And what is that?”

 

Finally they gave him an answer! To one of those questions, at least.

“TeMflakes!”

 

To that answer, he gave another timeless question, feeling a little more restless.

“But what _are_ temflakes??”

 

The shopkeeper reached into the bag, he’d get his answer there. From just the name and the uncanniness of this place: Brainz expected them to pull out a container of fish food, perhaps with a custom label done in rainbow crayons. He was anything _but_ disappointed when out from the bag came a parade of multi colored squares of different sizes.

 

He squinted at the shapes, perplexed as all ever: they looked like cuts of construction paper… he thought: there was something else about them Brainz couldn’t quite place. So he looked to any of the two creatures for an answer. The one in the box was the first to speak to him.

“HUmAn, geT TemFlakes, FREe of cHARge.”

 

Well it was awfully kind at least, but it still didn’t answer _anything_ he really wanted: he nodded nervously at them but he couldn’t help but repeat himself.

“Thank you?… _but…_ what _are_ they??”

 

“eXpeNsiv tem FLAkes, bEst for HUmaN fREnd.”

 

“Expensive” Tem flakes consisted of bits of construction paper: Brainz wanted to feel that he saw this coming: but he really wouldn’t have. Honestly, nothing here met with his expectations: it was either overkill or a dead miss… and this? This was a good bid for-

 

“Wait a minute…”

Brainz took the liberty of picking up one of the complementary “Tem Flakes” pinching it just by the corner and holding it up to inspect it. He had the intuition to sniff it, _odorless._ There was something strangely familiar about how this all played out. The easygoing, bizarre behaviors of all of these things, and the emphasis on these odorless squares of paper. He gasped subtly when it came to him… and muttered to himself.

“Oh my god it’s acid.

This is blot paper, and they have LSD.”

 

He moved it far away from his face and sat in his own world for a moment, with buggy eyes: just like everyone else around him.

“Holy _shit,_ how did they get acid? What is it… _Lysergic acid diethylamide?_ How did they get this?? There’s no way! Is this really acid? It _has_ to be!-”

 

Then he swallowed a nervous lump and saw all the bright and shining faces beside him, he knew they were just begging for him to take a hit of it.

“- _Ohhh…_ hell no… No-no no-no no-no… _Nooo…_  I am _not_ touching this stuff: I’ve seen what it does FIRSTHAND. I swore I would never do it again!! _NOT_ acid.”

 

Outwardly, he was far less mordant but all the more hastened to excuse himself as sweat began to bead on his head. Brainz put the “blot paper” back down and forced an uncertain smile on his face.

“Ohhh woww, that is _really_ kind of you, I _really_ appreciate the hospitality. But no, you have a business to run, and got a college fee… and-and I gotta respect that. I can’t take this without paying! You’re too nice of… uh… _people.”_

 

The shopkeeper shook its head diligently.

“nO, no CHarGe. U nEEd uR nUMNUmz Human!”

 

They were pushing, alright: the pressure was setting itself onto Brainz: he frustratedly vented in his head while pulling the face he was making.

“ _Dammit!_ I just can’t be taking hits of acid! I can barely understand them, let alone anything down here already, I can’t afford to get high off of my gourd!”

 

He tried as hard as he could to be modest and began backing out of the store with both of his palms out nonthreateningly.

“Guys… _listen:_ you really don’t gotta do this for me, I’m _fine:_ I really don’t need-”

 

He was cut off because he sensed something from behind and spun to see what it was.

“Oh shit.” He thought.

 

All of the Temmies had grouped around outside of the shop, a half circle to watch the spectacle that was Brainz, all of them with those big round eyes and wobbling mouths. They all pleaded indistinguishable words and noises: begging him to try.

 

He was just dumbfounded, really unwilling to give in.

“But… but…”

 

At his last attempt all of the little creatures jumped into various poses of despair, tears welling up at their eyes and their bodies vibrated as they all emitted a whining noise. They all looked like little children in their sweaters, all on the verge of crying quite melodramatically.

 

Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“Okay! _Okay!!_ I’ll try one!! _I’ll try one!!!_ Just don’t cry!! Look, _Look!_ I’m going back!-”

He had to repeat himself in an aggravated sing songy voice just to get them to stop wailing.

“-I’m going Baaa- _aaa-_ aack!”

 

He could hear cheering as he backed into the store, drooping his head in defeat and exasperation.

“Uuuuuugggghhhh..”

 

Brainz approached the box again, to two more sparkling and begging faces: he reluctantly chose the largest square: just barely pinching it by the corner. He felt the larger the surface area, the more it’d be spread out if he just nibbled at a corner. Of course though… this wouldn’t matter much depending on how many hits of acid were on this thing. It could’ve been just enough to make everything suck less, or enough that one lick would have him smelling rainbows and tasting sound.

“ _I can’t believe I’m doing acid after twenty years…._

Well… here goes nothing.”

 

He was so disinclined to do so that he took his time and brought it to his mouth ever so slowly: shaking from how nervous he was. Eventually, he brought the smallest corner of it to his mouth and nibbled it.

 

His face scrunched up and as he worked it in his mouth, trying to get it through… but it dissolved in mouth faster than he anticipated… in fact: it gave off a fruity taste as it melted on his tongue. Call him flabbergasted.

“That wasn’t so bad...  wait a minute…”

 

Throwing all of his prior inhibitions and fears out of his mind: Brainz took another exploratory bite on the square and tasted it.

“... it tastes like… fruity pebbles…”

 

Suddenly his fears came down all around him and he let go of his reluctant attitude to tell himself a laden truth in the most unbiased way.

“It’s like cotton candy… it's just _candy!”_

 

 _Just_ candy? It was more than that, this was such a surprise. So unexpected and so graceful. It embodied the essence of a true reprieve: where everything was sweet and innocent for just a sole moment. It was more than candy, it was one of the best things he’d ever tasted in his life. 

 

The smile on his face became realer than ever and it grew joyous, Brainz’s face became just as jubilant as all of the bouncing little Temmies around him. The relief from all of the weight just falling off of his back was enough to make him laugh. To _really_ laugh: because he felt silly for how edged up he was thinking these sweet little creatures were zonked on LSD just because they liked him. When this was just a bunch of children selling candy! No strings attached!

 

Brainz finished the rest of the “Tem-Flake” he’d started on and got his fill for chuckling, he looked up the shop owner with a really positive outlook now.

“Wow… I mean _wow,_ I’m sorry I even doubted you: these are _good!_ Like **_really_ ** good! Do you make these yourself??”

 

The shopkeeper, who was more than delighted from Brainz’s reaction, nodded eagerly.

"tEMz mAEk aLl TEmz sTUF bY HAND. uThR monSTrz nO liek TeMz"

 

The surprises just kept happening, Brainz was already in disbelief as he helped himself to more of the divine squares laid out.

“ _Really???_

You’re kidding me: they’re all hard on you too? Is that why you’re all here, _away_ from them all?”

He assumed they meant that they didn’t get along with the others: it wouldn’t made sense being they had a radically different philosophy regarding humans. So of course they’d face adversary by the more zealous ones.

 

This was the first completely legitimate conversation Brainz had had with these little creatures, let alone with anyone: for a long while. He actually really cared for what the shopkeeper had to say now and waited with anticipation… watching them nod sadly as they agreed with him.

“yaya…. TeMZ, MonsTRz, no liKe. pLuSz UnDrGrND hAF sLIm reeSOUrs.”

 

It put into question how large this place actually was, how far did it stretch: Brainz had a feeling and this supported it.

“You’re telling me, huh? You guys are all cut off from the world, aren’t you? How are you able to survive? Where do you get all of your resources anyway? _The garbage???”_

 

It seemed they were more reluctant to answer, drawn into a different thought already: this was fine though, it was something Brainz didn’t need to know immediately.

“TEm wAnz tO GO to CollEg so CaN tEeCH mOnstrz hao , sO MONSTRZ rESpEcc TEMZ”

 

Brainz was on his last square, he couldn’t help but indulge in them: they were just _that_ good. He paid his full attention though as to not be rude. He couldn’t sound more sincere, even in the face of these immature sounding voices.

“Wow… you’re really trying to better yourself here, aren’t you? You guys are just looking out for yourselves… trying to live life…-”

 

The Temmie cut in to finish their previous statement.

"wiFF DEEP TEM HISTORI"

 

Brainz finished his, feeling almost humbled from his obsolete assumptions… he looked behind him at all those faces: looking at them with a new perspective.

“-God… I had you guys pinned _all wrong…_ you’re probably the most sane people I’ve ever met down here… maybe even more… God… talk about not judging a book by its cover.”

 

He began to feel something grabbing at his insides again, that not so good feeling: he didn’t deserve to meet these people, and that’s what they were. They weren’t creatures, and this one said they weren’t like the monsters… these were _people._ The best people he’d ran into so far, why would somebody like him deserve for these people to come to _him?_ He didn’t… but because he had… he was able to remember how to be truly grateful for something. Never to take it for granted because it didn’t have to exist for his sake: it didn’t _have_ to find him.

 

He had his head supported on one of his palms, his mind felt so much heavier, but he looked away from himself again and to both the shopkeeper and his escort.

“God… I don’t even know how to thank you for bringing me here: like _really._ I can’t even bring words to mind that’d do you justice. You are some of the most decent people I’ve ever had the privilege to meet in my life.”

 

With that being said, he wiped his hand on his jeans to ensure it was clean enough and extended it for a handshake. Both of the Temmies took it, grabbing onto a finger with their little paws and shaking them with rejoice. The shopkeeper pushed the bag Tem Flakes closer to Brainz, even tying it up with a shoelace.

“hERE, huMAn fREnD taKE TeM FLakeS foR bIG tRIp.”

 

This final gesture couldn’t have astounded him anymore, Brainz was automatically keen to rejecting it out of how much they’d already given him: but he knew it would be no use: these were much bigger and better people than him. He’d take it just to keep a memento of only living things underground that _weren’t_ monsters.

  
“hUMaN haPy nOW, goT nUMNums.”

 

They were right about that, he accepted the gift bid the shopkeeper good luck with their shop and pursuit for education. The group of Temmies outside had dispersed and returned to their own devices, it would be time for Brainz to do the same.

 

Before he’d get a move on, it was interesting to note that the inert mushroom he noticed earlier had sprouted arm like appendages and was dancing in its place. He found it amusing and smirked.

“A dancing mushroom eh? Wonder what that means.”

 

Apparently, it overheard his comment and the bright blue cap atop lifted to reveal a second set of eyes observing him, the one question he didn’t expect to be answered: and it sought to do just that. It spoke with such a trenchant voice: it was a stark contrast to the friendly nature of everything else.

“You’ve lived a life of sin.”

 

His smile died and so did his heightened mood. From the most unexpected place, with such optimism and unassuming people: came this deadpanned attack at him. So contemptful and so judgemental. Brainz was taken back by it.

“ _Excuse me??”_

 

The cap lifted again, and the eyes stared right into him, condemning and spiteful.

“Don’t talk to me.”

 

The persecution complex was coming back, this was the beginning of the realization that this place _was_ truly too good to be true. Brainz felt the returning urge of wanting to leave, and it came back with urgency… lest he feel prosecuted by a mushroom. He could've confronted it: weapons drawn and hostility flaring. But all of the good people didn't deserve to witness this... so it was time for him to go.

 

But as he stormed for the exit, he was stopped by one of the Temmies: the deep voice and proper speech were a dead give away. Bob borrowed Brainz for just a moment.

“"Ignore the mushroom.  Us Tems are made of hopes and dreams.. But once in awhile a curse falls on a mushroom. He can't help his nature and we can't help ours… don’t let it get to you.”

 

Then, still having a grip on Brainz, Bob held out his other paw and in it was something that glimmered.

"What you do from here defines who you are."

Their paw flicked up and sent the shiny thing into air, aimed perfectly for it to land just where Brainz could catch it. It was a lone gold coin... but before he could question it: Bob was gone, back into the congregation of Temmies that it'd be impossible to tell without asking each one. Brainz just didn't have the patience to be here anymore. The goosebumps on his back were at full mast, so he put the coin his pocket and walked.

 

 

He made it to exit where one more Temmie was waiting for him, he could tell that this was the one that he first met. He owed them a proper goodbye, sitting down and nuzzling their hair while making glances at the freak mushroom.

“Alright Temmie, I’m heading out now. You take care.”

 

They waved at him as he got up and walked away.

“bUOy!”

 

But just as Brainz reached the black curtain, something caused him to stop and turn around: despite the pressure to leave… he approached his Temmie again and gave a solemn message… deliberately keeping his voice down and his grave tone up.

“Listen… there are probably going to be more humans coming through here sometime… I don’t know when exactly. But listen: if they do show up out there: for you and everyone in this village’s sakes. **Do NOT approach them.** Trust me… it took me a while to realize what good people you actually are… they’re not going to give you that chance-”

 

They looked at him, confused: and he took that expression and nodded bleakly.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen… but you stay here where it's safe, they won't be able to find you… _I hope.”_

 

With that, he stood back up and headed for the threshold.

“Stay safe.”

Brainz disappeared from sight, back into the wild.

 

 


	20. Unangelic Predestination

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to technical limitations and formatting issues: the summary has been inserted as a series of images at the start of this chapter.

 

* * *

 

[Don't Fall in....](https://youtu.be/D4C3-XV90Hw)

 

“Oh my holy god…”

It was like the entire room was in another dimension, everything had changed: nothing was the same. The glazing sunlight from the outside world was gone, snuffed out. The claustrophobic feeling that the walls would close in at any second was usurped by a ravishing sensation of dread. But what took everyone’s attention, what took the precedence: the patch of vibrant buttercups that made the centerpiece of this bizarre room, was **gone.**

 

They all stared into it, this depression, this black hole, motionless: without any words or actions. There was nothing left of the flowers but a ring of vines and bright petals lining this gigantic cavity in the earth. It was as if a portal into the abyss had been opened, eager to swallow anything that fell in, giving nothing back, not even so much as a shred of light to break through the vast darkness.

 

Richard Pailurn was the first and the only to find the strength to look away from its gaping maw, up to a red handed police lieutenant standing just across the pit drawn to the emptiness below: beside one of his men. Pailurn’s emotion never made it across, only a toneless murmur that carried through the silent air and echoed off of the cold walls.

“What… did you **_*do*?”_ **

 

Mordegrid didn’t even look up, not to see the bewilderment in Pailurn’s face… nor the 50 caliber pointed right at him. He was frozen with all of the others who couldn’t take their eyes off of it, like it had put all of them into a trance. Pailurn seemed to be the only one deaf to the room’s prodigious power, oblivious to the sweet nothings and enticing voices clouding his men.

 

“ _Mordegrid!_ What did you **_do?!_ ** Answer me!”

It was heard by nobody, it was as if his powerful voice had been sucked down by this gigantic black hole. But suddenly Pailurn noticed somebody else breaking free from the ranks of motionless men. The corporal from the groups of guards that’d just joined in, began to slowly steadily trudge for the opening, never breaking his sight even as he became dangerously close. Pailurn called out.

“Magunnic! Step back, that’s an order!”

 

His order was ignored and the man crept closer to the perilous drop, just inches away from tripping over the vines, showing no intent on stopping himself. He would have succeeded and fallen in, if his captain didn’t hare for him: snatching him from behind and tackling him to the ground, the sound they made was loud and jarring: enough to bounce around the room and hit everybody else, jumping out of their trances while Pailurn dragged the man away from the hole.

“Goddammit corporal! What do you think you’re doing?!-”

 

He looked around to see all of his men coming to, backing away from the pit: he extended his yell to include them, while he held onto the corporal.

“- that goes to all of you! What the damn hell is going _on,_ here!?!?”

 

The arrested soldier was the first to talk to him, shaking his head out from the haze and groaning.

“Augh.. ugh.. uhh.-Forgive me sir, I… I-i don’t know what came over me… it just… my head is spinning… I-i couldn’t think straight.”

Pailurn released the man and got to his feet: immediately he looked to Mordegrid, who was also showing signs of thinking again: glancing away from the hole and up to Pailurn with a “caught” look on his face, not a word to be said either.

 

Pailurn shouted for him, a finger pointed dead at him: while his other hand lay at his side caressing his gun.

“ _You!!”_

 

Mordegrid looked right at him, face still showing signs of his stupor and confusion. Pailurn was loud and forceful once he saw the attention he sought.

“Get over here!”

 

The red handed man finally complied, showing a newfound intimidation for the fissure in the earth: pressing himself as far away as he could and inching along the walls… his jaw was almost permanently agape. The others found similar views: coming to and recoiling at the sight of it, almost fearful of the grip it’d had on them.

 

Mordegrid finally made it to the Captain, he arrived with nothing to say: no frantic jumbles of words or stuttering drivel on the matter. He walked up to Pailurn and stood there motionless, his facial expression unchanging.

 

Pailurn was only pushed further by this, he holstered his gun and grabbed Mordegrid by the collar flaps on his uniform, pulling him up slightly to enforce his focus: practically hitting him with his breath.

“Tell me, _what_ happened!!?-”

 

Pailurn began jostling him by his holds to force him to speak.

 

“-Goddammit Mord: I **_told_ ** you not to touch anything!!!

You’re breaking ranks!!!”

 

As Pailurn shook him more violently, finally a sign of life shot through his frozen face: getting him to twitch into another expression. One of helpless bewilderment and frightened confusion.

“Huhh? Wha-”

It devolved into induced stuttering from being quaked like he was, it seemed Pailurn himself went into a trance of hassling him.

“- _okay!_ Stop! **STOP!”**

 

Pailurn let him go with a forceful shove and reinstated himself, commandingly pointing his finger and gesturing at Mordegrid with it. He tried to sound a little more collected now, being he was yearning for an explanation to this.

“Alright… tell me: **_what…_ ** happened???? In the five minutes I left you here… **_what…_ ** did you do? And why did you go behind my back?? Answer in any order you want, but I want to hear an explanation for all three of these.”

 

The cold, inculpating treatment hit him wrong: Mordegrid began with his old defensive throwbacks, feeling responsible for full blame… but he discarded that: seeing the look on Pailurn’s face and the anomalous circumstances… so he tried to elucidate what happened: going submissive.

“Okay okay… I was just- I wasn’t even-”

 

He shook his head out and tried to get a stable flow out of him, barred by how nervous he was: facing an irate Captain full of contempt for him.

“- Okay, listen… I was just observing the middle of the room, you know: _not touching_ anything, like you told me… and-and-”

 

Pailurn was far less patient than his proposal gave off, he wouldn’t let Mordegrid finish and grabbed one of his arms: holding it up so both could see the ruby red spattered on it.

“You sure about that? You gave me your word you’d keep them to yourself, but I’m having a hard time believing they didn’t _do_ anything. Y’know… the giant _HOLE??”_

 

Mordegrid jostled his arm to get out of Pailurn’s grip: he was only let go when he began to fess up: teeth chattering and sweat dripping down his head.

“Alright! Alright! Just let go of my arm!-”

 

He got his arm back, and now he had to hold up his end of the deal: swallowing and blinking nervously… he looked to Pailurn right in the eyes and came to: like a child spilling their actions before an aloof parent.

“- Okay, I admit… I took another sample of the blood-”

 

He saw Pailurns eyes and nose flair with anger at the admittance of a broken order, so he hurried to get the explanation out.

“- but wait! I just _had_ to… you went off with the first one: and I just couldn’t leave it out… but it was only a _micro_ sample… drop! Nothing more!”

  
He was challenged by the Captain, growing more fierce, and distrusting at what he’d done.

 

All of the other men had came to and were occupied by making cautious looks at the hole and holding small conversations with each other trying to figure out what was going on. But their main focus was on the argument unfolding before them.

 

Mordegrid was being pushed and pushed, the situation was becoming bleak for him: but he finally found the grip to push back himself: asserting his word with enough assertiveness to rival Pailurns.

“I’m telling you the _TRUTH,_ sir! Do you want the truth, or do you want to make assumptions?! You want to know what happened and I’m telling you! I wouldn’t lie about this shit! Especially not to someone who's technically my _boss_ , right now!”

 

There was a moment of silence in the room, apart from the low murmurs all around them, as Mordegrid painted: the swivet was there and obvious. He looked like a simple breeze would knock him over, abandoning his footing against this intimidating man towering over him.

 

Pailurn brought the volume in his voice down: but the threatening tone stayed put. But surprisingly: he didn’t take the assertion against him as bluntly as Mordegrid would’ve anticipated in his worst case scenario. He had one plain-spoken response. Putting Mordegrid up for his one chance, lest he mess it up.

“ **Proceed.”**

 

It took Mordegrid a little bit of work to bring himself to a coherent and focused point: but he was able to nod and take a deep breath… giving his story: calmly.

“Okay… so I just wanted to have a drop, I had no other plans for it but to look at the sample without having to risk interfering with the firsthand scene: with the amount of it present and how I took it: you wouldn’t have even noticed I did if you came back… I know this was not what you wanted, I know…”

 

He took a grimacing swallow and kept going, he was visibly shaking.

“ _Well…_ one of your men was more aware of this, and took it to himself to keep me from my work-”

 

He tilted just away from Pailurn, just for a moment to point into the group of men, singling out to the one with sunglasses sitting atop their green cap. Pailurn turned to see, then shared the direction of a pointed finger while turning back to Mordegrid.

“With the cap and glasses: Gorson?”

 

Mordegrid nodded and with the glances being made at him, Private Gorson walked out to the front of the group: anticipating that he was going to be brought. He was: Pailurn beckoned him with his hand to come upfront. Mordegrid continued his story.

“- he came and told me that I wasn’t supposed to be doing what I was: and in my rebuttal, he wanted me to hand over the sampling vial I had… he was going to take it to you and effectively turn me in-”

 

The soldier arrived and by the passive aggressive expressions and glances he made with Mordegrid, Pailurn could believe that they had some kind of altercation. He asked to see if his story matched with Mordegrids.

“Was it a drop, private?”

 

The private was almost too invested in the hole: making glances at it. but Pailurn’s voice still came through and they were able to break out of themself and answer him.

 

But instead of answering with an almost smug tone: eager to slam the ball onto his adversary standing with him… the private and Mordegrid gave one last look at each other, a quick one: this time without any conflict present… it was bewilderment. And in the end, the Private began nodding.

“It… it _was,_ sir… it was such a small amount I wasn’t concerned with the scene but just with following orders! I tried to confiscate it… he wouldn’t give it up, and we sort of fought for it… but then… it just… it-”

 

The man began to stammer, unable to describe what happened next: choking on the stage as Pailurn glared at him. Despite their differences, Mordegrid finished the statement for him, because the anomaly of it overrode their short lived rivalry.

“- we dropped it-”

 

Pailurn turned away from his soldier and to Mordegrid: putting the pressure on him and demanding a repeat.

“You, _what?”_

 

Mordegrid began to shake again, but he still held himself: and was able to repeat and even add to it.. Because he knew what he saw, and couldn’t make up any of it.

“-it _fell_ out of our hands… we both scrambled to catch it before it’d fall right into the flowers… but it did: fell right on the edge: I remember I saw it slipping off one of the petals and then…-”

 

In the space of time for him to parse what to say, Pailurn impatiently asked to hear.

“ _Yes?_ **What??”**

 

It was the hardest juncture of the conversation, Pailurn would look to both of them: these two witnesses were just lost in how to explain it to him. He took this silence poorly and almost yelled for the answer, how it eluded him.

“What, **_what??_ ** Just TELL. ME, what is so hard??”

 

Finally, it came out: by the soldier in search of his own words, now unable to make eye contact with his Captain, shoving out what he couldn’t make sense of. So unwilling to put it in its raw, nonsensical form… because it just didn’t exist, not in any other way.

“It just happened, sir….”

 

The captain was put off by the vagueness.

“What?”

 

Mordegrid followed the initiative of the soldier, now trying to work with him and not against: and he addressed Pailurn and shrugged as he tried to show his own confusion for the matter: wide eyed and open.

“We dropped the vial… and it just _happened…_ when we both came to… the floor, was a _hole_ now… that’s the only way I can put it.”

 

Pailurn gave them permission to stop explaining finally, he forcefully set his turn to talk in place.

“Alright, so hold it: both of you. _You-”_

To Mordegrid.

“- decided to take an unauthorized sample of the crime scene, out of your own merit and against order-”

 

Then to Goron.

“- and _you_ tried to stop him from doing so, and you two got into it… and during this _altercation:_ this vial of Brainz’s blood… fell out of both of you’s grips… landed inside of the circle… and you’re telling me that a tiny glass tube was enough to collapse the floor and leave us with this here huge pit.”

 

That was his theory, full of assumptions and judgements… but as intimidating as he was… his private dared to disagree with him.

“N-no sir… not _even…_ It wasn’t like a collapse… it wasn’t even-”

 

Again, the captain was hawkish on them: his body language was aggressive.

“ **No??** Then how did we end up with _THIS??”_

 

He flailed his arm towards the hole, then back to the two men: demanding his answer.

“ I’m failing to understand what you’re telling me here.”

 

“Because you’re not going to understand it.”

Mordegrid muttered to himself, keeping the disdain in: Pailurn still heard him partially, so he swung to his face with a threatening rebound.

“ _What-was-that?”_

 

Mordegrid repeated himself, with less attitude.

“I _said:_ you’re not going to understand it… because It can’t be put it in a way to understand it…”

 

As Pailrurn stared into his soul, Mordegrid found the strength under the great pressure: to find the perfect way to put it. He couldn’t find a way to explain it: because it couldn’t be explained. It could only be shown like a picture… and this is where he found the right analogy to put it as.

“... I saw it hit the ground… and one second: it was all there, the flowers the blood… but then it was this red… _flash._ It blinded me… like the brightest camera in the world… and when I came to… well: you were thrashing me around.”

 

Pailurn was still holding on to his skepticality: he wasn’t quite ready to take that, and undoubtedly. But the fact was… even as he’d go around to all of his recovering men: they all gave him similar stories.

_A red flash._

_Like a flipbook._

_It was just gone._

_It just disappeared._

 

“Unbelievable… In all my years, I’ve never had to deal with something so _ridiculous,_ that I can’t even get a sensible story out of _anyone_ , let alone my men-”

 

He walked back to Mordegrid and the one soldier, muttering to himself on the way: cynical as all ever.

“- red flashes… like got-dang magic- everyone’s out of their _minds-_ ”

 

For the sake of getting anything done, he had to accept it: albeit begrudgingly, and perhaps only outwardly accepting it. Pailurn moved on to the other mystery being the state of mind this had put everyone in, Pailurn didn’t even know _how_ to address the trancelike state it put everyone in, _especially_ with their testimonies!

“But don’t you hear the sounds?”

 

Pailurn didn’t, he hadn’t heard a single thing outside of his own men muttering to themselves vacantly when he walked back inside of the room! And they looked at him like _he_ was the crazy one. They were the ones hearing voices… emitting from down the pit!  
“No.. I don’t… I don’t _hear_ anything... -”

[There's someone down there...](https://youtu.be/h3O4-uRo5s8)

He projected his voice, bouncing it off of the stone walls.

“Who _else_ claims that they’re hearing things from this hole??”

 

Soon enough, all of his men raised their hands and gave their various agreements… another concern for him.

“Alright… well… w-What does it sound like, this _hole?”_

 

Gorson was the first one to put words to it, he sounded haunted: like what he was describing had a profound effect on him.

“It’s like… _voices,_ sir. A bunch of them… I can’t make out what they’re saying: they’re all… speaking all over each other… but they sound like… like _kids!_ A bunch of kids… they sound so far down… it’s like two hundred meters almost, there’s _people_ down there.”

 

Again, everyone else had similar responses to him, goosebumps were collectively had by the ground… it even prompted some of them to peer over the edge of the monstrous thing. Shining flashlights down the brink… but seeing nothing as the light was swallowed up.

 

Pailurn had to corral them away from it.

“Don’t go up to it, stay away! We don’t know what’s _down_ there!”

 

As for how he took this situation, Mordegrid could see grave concern finding its way on the Captain’s face. He had to inquire about it, not sure if Pailurn would be willing to share. But he was met with a sincere voice.

“I don’t know… I can’t even fathom a thing like this myself… right now: what’s got me is the fact ya’ll are hearing these voices… and how I found you when I entered… I’m thinkin of a-a… a sort of reaction you did when this happened… something may have gotten into your brains, you all could be in danger… I don’t know.”

 

He looked down at Mordegrid with a very doubtful gaze… there was a severe dip in his confidence… the Brainz effect. He almost looked mournful. It wasn’t an expression Mordegrid ever expected to see on Pailurn.

“What you did… you could’ve triggered some kind of toxin on all of you… this is why I didn’t want you to stay… and now I have to reconsider this entire operation out of the wellbeing of my men…”

 

The guilt trip was going the full distance, Pailurn could’ve sounded furious with Mordegrid: condemnation and all for dooming them all… but he wasn’t: holding it back seemed to be effective… Mordegrid had to begin considering the consequences…

He tried to think of something… a resolve from the full blame, or a reason why this wasn’t as it appeared. But he couldn’t… this would serve as his greatest blunder. He put his own selfish desires in front of his country for the last time… and now-

“I fucked up-”

 

He could’ve made every man in the room a victim of one of Suspect Omega’s last trick.

 

“Uh sir, If I may come in-”

Out from behind, cutting into the doom and gloom: Sergeant Lomphetts squarely requested his captain’s attention, In fact, for what he had to say: he could’ve sought the attention of everyone in the room. He was given it, and he pitched in with a new development.

 

“Sir, I’ve been right behind you this whole time… but I can hear them too.”

 

Both Mordegrid and Pailurn stared at him with loss on their faces, Lomphetts stood here contesting with the exposure theory… he wasn’t present when it happened: yet he claimed the existence of the voices below too.

“Sounds like kids… are there kids down there?”

 

The second largest hole in the room was the hole in Pailurn’s theory… but unwilling to accept that just yet, he pulled some excuses out from the top of his head. Like he was trying earnestly to convince all of his men they’d been exposed to some kind of neurotoxin

“It could still be _lingering,_ like the signal… just because you weren’t here when it opened wouldn’t mean much…”

 

But here was the major issue with his second try.

“But what about, _you_ sir? Why can’t _you_ hear them?-”

* * *

 

This argument continued for a _far_ longer time than it deserved… they only concluded with it, coming to the realization that other things deserved top priority.

 

Pailurn placed both of his hands at his sides and his voice boomed through the cave, going over anything: even the voices he was deaf to hear. It was time for blaring orders.

“ _ALRIGHT_ Listen! We aren’t gonna concern ourselves with “who can hear what” or whatever sweet nothings this big drop’s whispering to ya!

 

Right now We’re in business!! We got ourselves a big ole rabbit’s hole, we don’t know what’s down there, and we don’t know who _else_ is down there with our bloody rabbit!

 

SO! Shield team, I want this room covered! No one’s coming in and you’re going to make sure indefinitely that nobody gets OUT! If any new occurrences come up, you see a light down there, or your sweet voices start asking you out to brunch? You radio in IMMEDIATELY. With info on it, or with what it looks like after you’ve taken it down!

 

Don’t be smart- don’t be DUMB! You fall in, and you’re a good as DEAD for all we know.

Understood?!”

 

Every man of the guard team piped up, and Pailurn was met with a resounding.

“YES SIR!”

 

As everyone began moving into defensive positions and standing up straight, Pailurn grabbed Mordegrid and Lomphetts and began escorting them out from the room.

“You two yer-coming with me: c’mon, we’re heading back down let’s go.”

 

They walked with him, but out of the two: it was Lomphetts who had a question about it.

“Uh, sir. You gave them orders to shoot anything, what about the voices? There could be people in danger down there for all we know, kids?”

 

But Pailurn was already on a mission, he knew his reasons for the orders long before he opened his mouth.

“Unlikely…why would we find children down there? A place with no conceivable exits or entrances, _especially_ after our man had to have strolled through there? Don’t think he’d be so kind- ”

 

He turned his head and would face both of his company as he finished.

“But regardless, we ain’t taking the risk, not with what we know so far, we’re not given him one bit of slack: that’s why we’re movin.”

 

They continued to descend, the glow of the sun was on its last legs, it wouldn’t last till noon: not when the clouds were closing in, the air felt cold and overbearing. Colder than the damp room: it wasn’t inviting.

 

Lomphetts went silent and they continued to follow Pailurn down the mountain, but Mordegrid was just a step above lost: they were jumping to something and he had too many questions to see straight.

“Captain?? May I ask what we’re doing?”

 

“Heading back to town, that’s what we’re doing.”

It didn’t satisfy him in its literal response. For what he was concerned, Pailurn was skipping over vital steps and actions, especially when the new development was being left behind. It was almost surprising that such a tactical man would overlook this. Especially when he was so keen of proper etiquette and “de rigueur” execution.

He tried to sound respectful though, for some reason he felt that Pailurn would be easier to agitate like this: he seemed dead set on whatever he was doing, he was pacing them pretty quickly: any faster and they’d run the chance of tripping.

“But… excuse me sir, but what about the hole?”

 

He was met with a quick retort, the kind that was truly unfitting to this situation: he’d never expect this.

“What about it?”

 

It almost rhetorical, like he’d made up his mind about it already! How could he, there was so much on the line now. Mordegrid was almost dumbfounded, he nearly tripped on his own words.

“What about it? We figured that out before we left in a hurry! I’m not trying to question your tactics, but this would be the _worst_ time to leave it behind: we need to do an investigation on it, near _immediately!”_

 

He didn’t mean for it to come out, almost sounding abject to Pailurn, he was still recovering from being taken off guard: it'd made him feel anxious, he felt like this ever since the room transformed. But Pailurn didn’t even pick any of this up: he was just preoccupied in _something._ Keeping his eyes forward and his thoughts to himself.

“We _are_ doing something… _we’re_ about to, that’s why we’re heading back.”

 

Again… he _really_ wanted to get in on this explanation for this abnormal behavior, especially if it amounted to a plan or a strategy that would explain all of this. He had to accept that he wouldn’t get anything but direct and quick retorts to literal questions… so he started to pick at the details.

“You _did_ notice the change in flora right? The vines lining the pit? You know those weren’t there before, _right?”_

 

He didn’t notice throughout his mostly one sided conversation, that Lomphetts would shoot him a quick questioning look every time he opened his mouth, he _he_ was the one acting abnormal. Like there was something he wasn’t privy to, or just the thought of consulting the captain was just beyond a soldier. Pailurn gave his opinion on the flowers: quite unbothered too.

“Mhm… that’s why I told them to stay away: not gonna have anyone trip.”

 

He wasn’t even going to question this? Instead just react to it blindly based on appearance… was this the case with the second question Mordegrid had to ask?

“But… what about the flower… the _uh-_ buttercups! You notice that they’re all _gone?_ As well as the drops of red on them!”

 

He felt himself swallow nervously after asking this one: asking about _anything_ actually. Because this _was_ his fault, he interfered with military business and it could’ve amounted to grievance for Pailurn. While he was glad he wasn’t being chewed out mercilessly, he wouldn’t wish to stand for himself going without blame if the captain had to face troubles for his actions. He would step up and take responsibility, always… even if the consequences were dire, even criminal.

Regardless… Pailurn was dreadfully acquiescent.

“Probably fell in, doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out.”

 

Mordegrid began to stammer and sweat, he just couldn’t make any sense of this, more so: it was like he couldn’t get any sense into Pailurn! The army man had gone into autopilot it seemed! Was he in shock from what happened?

“Bu-but I didn’t hear a collapse, I don’t.. I don’t think it _was_ but… but, what about all of the blood? Remember, you told me you had to _preserve_ it… it’s all gone now! What are we going to do?”

 

This was the grave concern, he’d been told their orders were to preserve everything the way it was. This would stand as the grave violation to that, surely Pailurn had to feel some form of repulsion to this! Even if it made him angry, getting any sign of emotion was better than this! Better than being left in the dark and wandering into unsurity. However… it didn’t even get Pailurn to glance at him, still with the factitious response.

“Untrue, I still got your actually authorized sample right here, we’re golden: see?”

 

This coveted vial that spurred an argument concerning _treason_ and national security of all things: was now carelessly taken out of his shirt pocket and held out like some curio to gawk at. But it itself wasn’t why Mordegrid gasped at the sight. _It was the fact that it was empty._

“Whoa, shit! Captain, look! Look at the vial!”

The excited request was enough to spur Pailurn off of his course enough to take a look before he’d resign it back to his pocket.

 

_It was empty._

Impossible considering it was hermetically sealed. This would _have_ to make him consider the true anomalous nature of this entire place.

“Huh… well that’s strange: maybe it vaporized.”

 

He went to near outrage now, on the verge of daring to put his foot down, forget being unusual: this was bordering neglect! Something was definitely wrong here. He began to show his anxiety and blurted.

“ _Captain!_ What is going on?! Why are you treating this so casually all of a sudden?! What are you-”

 

Finally, Pailurn stopped in his track and spun around to face him. Just the sight of him doing this was enough to halt Mordegrid with a startled flinch, it made his gesture to quiet him down, redundant.

“Shhhhh… that’s enough…-”

 

Lomphetts didn’t even seem phased at this: he just sighed and observed, observing the stern turn in his captain and the stupefied detective turned police lieutenant.

“Your concern is already put to mind, Mordegrid: don’t believe that I’m just up and forgetting about every little detail you’re mentioning to me. No… in fact: I’ll tell ya that I don’t have so much as a rat’s ass on any of that… nor am I thinkin I’m _GOING_ to find one… because that’s not what we’re gonna be trying to find… is it: sergeant?”

 

Mordegrid looked to the man for the answer he evidently had, whatever they both did. Lomphetts clicked with his tongue, before nodding without emotion. He completed his captain’s point, dutifully.

“No sir.”

 

It had gotten better, Pailurn in this moment: seemed to go back to his normal self. Even grinning dubiously at both of them, putting on of his hands onto Mordegrid’s shoulder. Mordegrid felt less panicked: but he still didn’t have a clue.

“I… don’t understand, sir? What are you going to do?”

 

Pailurn only patted his on the respected shoulder and chuckled once. Then with a dauntless wind coming out of him. He finally let Mordegrid in on his plan.

“We’re going in after Brainz.”

* * *

 

The town was really quite unusual, for a place just barely missing a population of two hundred. Its ambitious were big enough to suit a thousand, really: it all banked on the resonation of something that was far quieter than anticipated back in its conception. When the notion of tourism for a scenic mountain wrought less than ten percent of visitors: Ebott Valley found itself as a small shell falling into obscurity: tucked deep into rural landscape.

 

Still, it wasn’t without its peculiar designs, including a large meeting building: always purveying the feeling of being oversized as ten to a dozen of town government officials would find themselves echoing off the walls in a building made for twenty times as much at a time.

 

This would be the only time it’s ambitious came to fruition: as all but 20 of the 117 men comprising of the United States 42nd Infantry Division, Special forces 5th battalion. E company: gathered into the room: sitting with their legs crossed on the empty floor: or taking the initiative to snatch one of the dusty folding chairs off of their surplus carts. The guards still assigned to the cursed room far above the treeline or out on patrol would listen in on their receivers.

 

The stage would hold the presence of five people, A trio of lieutenants: the commanders of the force. And the captain which commanded them, bringing his own personal guest: an out of place police lieutenant just obligated to stand beside him: facing the crowd.

 

The microphone situated on the rustic podium would do nothing, not without power: it would put to test the strength of their vocal chords. Make good reason for their ability to shout. When it was time, Pailurn stepped up and quelled the room full of murmurs.

[Time for Action](https://youtu.be/ZLjfmt8XQJU)

_“ALRIGHT, BOYS: LISTEN UP!!_

_WE’VE BEEN CALLED DOWN HERE FOR AN “EMERGENCY” AND WHAT HAVE WE BEEN DOIN?_ **_NUTHIN,_ ** _FOR TWO DAYS._

_THINGS GO THE RIGHT WAY? AND WE’LL HAVE ANOTHER TWO_ **_WEEKS_ ** _OF DOING SWEET SWEET FUCK ALL.”_

 

There was an overall wave of low grumbles and unhappy grouses in the company, Pailurn observed the disdain in the group, then snatched Mordegrid with his arm, bringing him up to the front: then getting back to it.

 

_WELL GUESS_ **_WHAT,_ ** _LADIES?? THANKS TO MY NEW FRIEND HERE?-”_

 

He gave Mordegrid a rousing shake

 

_“-THINGS ARE GONNA GO A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENTLY!”_

 

Some more murmurs from the crowd meeting his animated expression, some questioning, and some skeptical to Mordegrid’s sake. Pailurn kept his arm firmly on his shoulder, patting it as he’d describe Mordegrids’ unrecognized “Achievement”

 

_“MR DETECTIVE HERE, THOUGHT “HEY NOW, THIS IS JUST BULLSHIT: WHY’RE WE WAITING AROUND FOR OLE BRAINZY TO DO SOMETHING??_

_ARE WE JUST PAID TO SIT AROUND HOLDING BIG GUNS ALL DAY, LETTING HIM HAVE ALL THE FUN?_ **_FUCK NO!!_ **

_SO WHAT’D HE DO? I’LL TELL YA, HE PUT US IN BUSINESS!!”_

 

The murmurs continued, only growing in their energy and mystery: the skeptical ones began to die down and gave unto the rise of grins and slow head nods: the ones who already knew where this was going. Pailurn took notice to those ones and they only seemed to give him more energy. Mordegrid couldn’t fully agree with what was being said, but all he could do was keep silent and go with it: lest Pailurn shake him until his teeth fillings come loose.

 

“ **_THAT’S RIGHT:_ ** _WE POPPED THE CORK ON HIS LITTLE MOUNTAIN, AND NOW: WE’RE GOING IN AFTER’IM!”_

 

The room erupted into a near unanimous cheer, thunderous applause and everything, they couldn’t have sounded happier for their chance at one of the most hated men in America. Pailurn took in all of the celebration, just gesturing it in. When he’d had enough, he quieted everyone down and had his last statement.

 

**_“_ ** _ALRIGHT! REPORT TO YOUR LIEUTENANTS: I’VE ALREADY BRIEFED THEM: THEY’LL TELL YA WHAT TO DO NEXT: BUT THIS HERE APPLIES TO EVERYONE WHO’S JOINING ME. I WANT FULL ENGAGEMENT EQUIPMENT: SHORT RANGE: LONG RANGE: EVERYTHING YA GOT. WE’RE GOIN IN BLIND HERE AND I WANT Y’ALL PREPARED!!_

 

_NOW, WHEN YOU’RE ALL SUITED UP: HEAD UP TO THE MOUNTAIN!_

_LETS GO KILL US A BAD GUY!!”_

 

With a grand gesture encouraging everyone: Pailurn let the entire room loose, his lieutenants stepped down from the stage to break up the group and get the ball rolling. He took Mordegrid with him, and lead him out from the building with another destination in mind: they had some alone time now.

 

Mordegrid had… _questions_ to say the least and Pailurn anticipated this: so he gave a preemptive answer to what he would’ve been asked.

“Go ahead, get it out of your system now.”

 

Mordegrid gracefully accepted the offer, getting the nerve up.

“Alright, I will… _what the HELL are you doing?!... sir…”_

Pailurn laughed at his outburst, he went with his easy going demeanor, despite the very grave move he just did.

“Saw that comin: well what does it look like? We’re goin after your bad guy.”

 

After _everything_ they went through, this completely blindsided Mordegrid: this was beyond the _last_ thing he’d ever expect to happen here. For rightful reasons so, the escalation was just unheard of. Not to mention the legality and even _logic_ of it. Mordegrid had to pick from which to start with _first,_ lest he try all at the same time in a jumbled blather.

“B-but-but-but _sir!_ I _really_ don’t want to tell you your business, you’re obviously the one with the tactics here: I won’t argue with that. But are you _really_ going to do this?”

 

Pailurn shrugged at him, understanding his concern and staying passive with it.

“Of course, what good are we for if we stand around doing nothing? You said it yourself, keeping everyone out and refusing to do anything? We’d just be giving Brainz the perfect chance to fuck off somewhere…. _So…_ instead of doing that: we’re actually gonna do something about it: see if we can take him down.”

 

It was funny, if Pailurn had done this a day earlier: Mordegrid would’ve been all for it: but after realizing how it all actually worked: getting what he wanted wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. There was just too many holes in it he could see through.

“But what about your orders?? Preservation?? Quarantine?? Are you even _allowed_ to send expeditions like this?”

Pailurn nodded, remembered what he’d said in the past.

“Well, let me answer that backwards: Firstly: Of course I can! This is my company and I can manage it however I see fit… a justifiable initiative is how we’ve won wars in the past, y’know. Second: we’re still gonna uphold that, we’re reserving a good number to maintain the exclusion and act as a support for us: A ground base. It’ll be boring most likely, but that’s just how it is.”

 

It was bizarre, give the army a little bit of take and the entire motive shifted dramatically. No longer on a defensive, fit to sit around and wait for something to happen. Pailurn was going to _make_ something happen. The details now, were the problem. Mordegrid tried to think of everything that could go wrong with this impulse.

“Don’t you want to send some kind of reconnaissance first? We don’t know anything about that hole, how deep it is, the risks, _hell_ we don’t even know if he SURVIVED jumping down there.”

 

Again though, Pailurn already know what he was going to say: he had an answer for just about anything trying to dissuade him from throwing his men down a pit.

“That’s what we’re doin, first team that goes down is gonna tell us what we’re lookin at, and I suppose you got a point there. I mean.. Imagine how disappointing it’d be that we go all down there: all suited up and raring to go… only to find him sprawled on the ground… _man…_ talk about going out like a punk…. But that aside… if he died on the fall: then who or _what_ could’ve triggered the EMP event that occured hours later?”

It made Mordegrid stop asking, to think about it for a little. Pailurn had a point here, and then he went for a second one to bring up.

“(Be)Sides… with how dangerous you make him out to be, why give him a skeleton crew to haplessly go down there, for easy pickins? We ain’t gonna give him any slack, when we go down: we’re goin down _hard…_ I wanna ensure that he’s fucked six ways from sunday.”

 

It was a pretty audacious judgement, but Mordegrid would be lying if he said it was unnecessary. Pailurn went for the third and final point he had.

 

“Regardless though… he’s not even the main event here… we’ll still be explorin uncharted territory: looking for that unknown device that generated the EMP signal… even if we find’im in a pile of himself on the ground… _somethin_ caused it… and is better to be prepared for anything….

 

But further man… picture finally getting your hands on him. How we’ll string him up by his neck if its still got a head attached after we’re done with him… it’ll be like… like a _bonus!_ We put the nation to rest, then we tell em how we stomped ole Brainzy’s guts out on the way!... Picture that…. You’re smiling arent’cha?”

 

He was… despite that awful nickname Pailurn kept using. Mordegrid couldn’t help but think of how enchanting that idea sounded: finally seeing Suspect Omega get his comeuppance by an army crushing down on him. The violent end to his legacy… what better way to take him down than by blowing his own plan up in his face? He’d deserve every second of what Mordegrid would do to him… what an army of hardened soldiers would do… he’d suffer.

“Heh… yeah…god _imagine that…._ that _does_ sound pretty good: something out of a pipe dream… but uh-”

 

He shook the fondness out of himself and went back to reality.

“- that’ll be something you gotta tell me when you do. I’ll have to read about somewhere: I’m not gonna be there to see it happen.”

 

He couldn’t help sounding disappointed, even when he knew this totally wasn’t his place to be: he didn’t have a right to be here, it was a _privilege._ But that shouldn’t have mattered any, right? As long as Brainz finally got what he deserved, Mordegrid would get what he wanted… even if he wasn’t the one to do it. A bit anticlimactic, but it was nothing to truly complain about: he wouldn’t dream of being selfish.

 

Pailurn had other intentions though.

“What do you mean? You’re not coming with us?”

 

Mordegrid didn’t even know that was an _option,_ he was convinced it _shouldn’t_ be an option. Why would it be? Pailurn was just humoring him at this point: but he still took the high road and treated it seriously, it wasn’t much of a laughing matter.

“What? Nah, cmon now… let’s be logical here: you can’t just take me with you on a military operation, I appreciate the thought though: but yeah…”

 

Pailurn looked at him like he didn’t have a clue.

“What’re you talkin’ bout? Sure I can! I can do whatever th’ell I want, it’s _my_ operation.”

 

Funny he mention that, Mordegrid could distinctly remember a speech claiming the opposite thing: perhaps Pailurn was just unwilling to answer more questions and went with the easy way to cap the topic. But here he was now, boasting he had complete control over this entire situation, more so he had control over Mordegrid and his obviously prevalent desire to join them.

 

Mordegrid stretched his words long and awkwardly. Squinting his lids and sneering his face, mostly to hide his actual intentions lest he look unprofessional. He was trying to look at it realistically, but it came off sounding pessimistically.

“But… would you _really_ want to bring me into everyone’s way? I’m practically a civilian to all of your guys: that’s about the clearance I have anyways… you don’t really _do_ this anywhere else: it doesn’t seem right.”

 

Pailurn made a small digression and pointed to the building he wanted to take them to, the sheriff's office where they first met. But he resumed with his response afterwards.

“We’re headin there.

But, sure we do! You know the military contracts civilians for special tasks _all the time._ Specialists for when it’s something we typically haven’t seen before. And the way I see it now? We’ve never seen anything like _this_ before, that fuckin mountain… and it looks like you’re a specialist on everything related to Brainz. So I’d say, that’s a pretty legitimate reason to contract you.

 

Also… ‘ _civilian?’_ don’t short sell yourself there. You ain’t a civvie, you’re a police lieutenant turned detective, who I assume went through rigorous combat training and has seen shit from following our man’s tail for a decade or so. You’re pretty much on the same rung as anyone else out here!”

 

They approached the darkened building and Pailurn began waking up some of the lanterns placed around. He finished his opinion on the matter and then shrugged finally: dropping his enticing attitude.

“Aight, well look: I’m not tryn’ta make ya do anything you think you can’t handle. You don’t got no obligation to come. I just assumed you were comin with us from the get-go, being you already came all the way and might as well make it worthwhile that yer stuck here till the quarantine lifts.

 

But don’t sweat it then, you don’t gotta come if you don’t want. We’re doing this because it’s our duty to protect the country from people like him, you don’t got no duty here… s’all up to you.”

 

Despite the unassuming and passive tone of what Pailurn said. The words hit mordegrid like frozen knives stabbing at his brain. There was no assertion or Motivation taken out from what he said, all of it was instilled from Mordegrids sense of judgment: his own self detrimental workings. The way Pailurn put it, if Mordegrid followed procedure for once, and didn’t put himself in a tenuous position joining Pailurn’s charge: then he’d be better off branding himself as a traitor for refusing.

 

Mordegrid was at the mercy of his self righteous attitude, his drive to atone everything Suspect Omega had ever done to the world: it was his responsibility: and the oath he took when joining the police force dictated that he would have to do _everything_ in his power to accomplish this. Everything in his ability to avenge the losses this terrorist had sown.

 

He wanted to damn Pailurn for this… that man knew exactly what he was doing: he was a Captain: of course he got there by showing dominance even in manipulation. Because what he set up inside of Mordegrid was non negotiable. He _had_ to say yes: because if he didn’t… then to himself he was just helping Brainz get away.

 

He knew it was wrong, he knew it was going to be an indulgence… but Mordegrid took a long sigh… and he gave Pailurn his decision.

“Alright… I’ll go.”

 

Pailurn turned away from the last lantern he’d woken up in the drab room: not quite hearing him.

“Hum? What was that?”

 

Mordegrid sighed again, and spoke louder and with more sureness in his voice: just to ensure both him and Pailurn knew what he was about to do. There was no joy or excitement in his voice: he was much too disappointed with himself.

“I said I’ll do it, I’ll come with you.”

 

Pailurn’s trademarked, good natured grin came back onto him: he playfully slapped Mordegrid on the back of his clammy neck.

“Atta- **_BOY!!_ **

Now that’s what I’m talkin about! That kind of initiative is what we really look for in the armed forces. If it wouldn’t mean the loss of one of New York’s finest: I’d say you’d be a surefire candidate as one of _my_ lieutenants, y’know that?”

 

Mordegrid outwardly seemed to get over his internal defeat: or at least he wasn’t showing enough of it to smile modestly and shake his head at the complement.

“All right… alright… let’s get this piece of shit, once and for all… what’re we doing here anyway?”

 

In all of the excitement and goading: Mordegrid overlooked the fact that after giving that rousing speech to his company: Pailurn took himself and Mordegrid out by themselves to this vacant building, nobody else in sight.

Pailurn held up his palm to ask for a moment to answer the question: he opened one of the doors in the building: bringing in a fluorescent lantern to bring it out of darkness. He motioned for Mordegrid to follow him inside the new room. A wooden placard gave it its title as they entered.

_GARAGE._

 

There was something ominous something about the concrete floored room: setting into full bravado when Pailurn shut the door and the outside world behind them. The large empty space in the middle, lined with tire tracks… or the collection of crates and pallets hugging everywall. All brought into though as the fluorescent bulb in Pailurn’s light flickered and toyed with the dark.

“Ack… grabbed the shitty one: I’m sorry-”

 

Mordegrid looked away from the unusual surrounding in the unusual room to see Pailurn putting it down and brushing dust off of his hands.

“- this one always gives me a headache and I always end reaching for it first-”

 

Before he could go back to discerning all the items in the room: A brighter light was introduced into the room along with a grinding noise: He turned to see the garage door being lifted up by Pailurn: illuminating everything.

“-There we go, that’s better: can only get this opened from the inside: don’t need this anymore.”

 

And the lantern stopped hurting their eyes: even though the outside wasn’t much brighter: the overcast above was absolutely leaden, the sun was completely concealed.

“Anyways… here we are.”

 

While he could see mostly clearly now, it still didn’t shine much light on where and what Pailurn wanted to accomplish here. All Mordegrid could see was the somewhat titanic collection of green containers and crates…

 

Then he could notice the white luminescent markings on some of them.

_CAUTION_

_THIS SIDE UP_

_HANDLE WITH CARE_

_MILITARY_

_LIVE MUNITIONS_

_DANGER, EXPLOSIVES_

 

Some were without words, and only displayed a white star on top.

 

“Uhh… Sir? What is this?”

Pailurn seemed glad he asked, taking further enjoyment out of the intimidated edge to his voice.

_“This-”_

He gestured his arm to all of the crates.

“- Is where your tax money goes. This is a sampler of some of the best military hardware, this side of the great lakes, my personal picks. Just about everything you need to outfit a small army... rest of its in the woodbacks.”

 

Mordegrid almost without words, watching as Pailurn popped some of the lids off, showing off the wares.

  * Fitted cases housing sleek and deadly looking assault rifles.
  * Gigantic machine guns, ammunition belts coiled up like snakes.
  * Shotguns lined up like sardines on a rack.
  * Crates filled with weapon magazines: all laid on top of each other like brickworks.
  * Multitudinous boxes of ammunition: boasting different calibers and types… enough to amount for mountains of brass cartridges and red shells.
    * Not to mention gridded frames holding dozens of thrown grenades at 40 Millimeter frag rounds



 

This was only the top of the catalogue, but what would take the centerfold would be in one of the most prominent containers. Painted with an explosive warning on all sides.

Satchel Charges, Demolition equipment, anything comprised of C4, controlled by a remote or a fuse. Enough explosives to bury the entire town if they saw fit. It was dormant armageddon.

The original intimidation was now a full blown stun: safe to say he was blown away by the sight of all this firepower just laying around.

“Ho- _ley…_ shit!”

 

Mordegrids eyes were still affixed on the explosives, Pailurn smirked: always a stickler for reactions. This was a first for Mordegrid, not just seeing someone commanding this much killing force: but just witnessing this must firepower, **period.** This was was a stark increase in anything he could ever muster up for his men.

“Why… do you have this much _firepower?_ I thought you were national guard… you can start a _war_ with this… what… the… hell???”

 

Pailurn chuckled at the awe lining Mordegrid’s voice, he had to shrug at him and explain, while restraining himself from grinning more.

“Like I said… anything to justify your tax money: better to go ham on the equipment than to have anythin left in the budget…

 

B’sides… we _gotta_ be prepared for anything that comes down on her (America’s) sweet sweet land.

 

Ok, now he was skeptical: more like he had one question he really couldn't keep to himself: Yes he was still staring at the explosives.

“Have you ever been in a situation where you _needed_ this much explosives?”

“Can’t say I have, but I always equip my men assuming we’ll run into one, one day… this here won’t be an exception.”

 

_NOW_ it was disbelief, he was hoping it was a joke.

“ _Underground?_ You can’t use a demolition charge underground, you’ll cause a cave in!”

 

Pailurn only rolled his eyes casually at him, but he noticed they were getting off track.

“There’s a lot of factors that go into this: I’ll spare us the time in explaining them: But just trust that there’s something more to “Strategic Placement” than assuming I’ll blow us all to kingdom come.”

 

Mordegrid was still in his own circle of awe, he barely put anything Pailurn said to his mind… and he was _still_ stuck on the explosives.

“... are those tripmines?-”

 

Pailurn cleared his throat deliberately and reaffirmed his attention.

“But no, I didn’t bring you here for a discussion on the logistics of using military grade explosives underneath a mountain… and certainly not to gawk at all of my guns.”

 

Mordegrid already asked this question, but Pailurn set him up again: so he discarded his awe and began to sound vexed at the redundancy of asking again.

“Then why did you bring me here?”

Pailurn took his attention off of Mordegrid and to another crate he opened up: he reached inside of this one and brought out the contents: holding it up.

“Because… you’re ill equipped.”

 

“What is that?”

 

Pailurn had brought out a large vest, completely done in dark woodlands camo. It was covered with pouches and laden with wires running underneath it. He appraised it with his one hand.

“This, Mr Mordegrid: is a type four combat utility vest. The very finest not even available on the market. With hard armor inserts and ceramic plating: this offers the highest protection any kevlar vest can ever hope to achieve. It’ll impede all but the highest caliber rifle. From 5.56 full metal jacket… even to those 45 hollow points Brainz is so fond of using-”

 

In the midst of rotating and showcasing the body armor, Pailurn began bending and manipulating it: making an effort to show how easy it was.

“- and as you can see: our latest developments in protective engineering have given us this amazing capability all while keeping it as flexible as your basic interceptor: standard bulletproof vest… all while keeping shy of just thirty pounds.”

 

As amazing as this was supposed to be, Mordegrid couldn’t help but notice the wires he left out, so he held any praise or judgement until he figured that out.

“What’s with the wires?”

“I was getting to that: these run on the inside of the vest to a small lithium ion battery placed just inside of the plating here, can’t even feel it-”

 

He gave the hard panels below the kevlar a tap: then reached back into the armor’s box to grab some peripherals… fastening them to the vest.

“- The point of this is to support all of these here gadgets, it’s all modular: you can attach a flashlight to your shoulder here: and then you plug this into the back… and there!-”

 

The light came to life and a harsh glare went right into Mordegrid’s eyes, making him shield them.

“-pretty bright huh? And with the battery, you can trust you got a good forty eight hours of continuous use before it goes out… it’s also rechargable to any two-forty outlet or battery bank… as for the other uses… we’re not fond of havin to replace the batteries on our walkies we carry around… so all of ours get plugged into our vests… here.”

 

Pailurn approached Mordegrid and held the vest out for him to take, he did: and Pailurn helped size it to fit. When it was all closed up: Mordegrid tried shook around in it to get a feel.

“Gosh… it’s a little heavy… you sure I should have this?”

 

“Absolutely! I wouldn’t let you enter a combat zone without any protection, and you’re not wearing just “any” protection… that’s _the_ protection to wear. State of the art that is, still _experimental_ even. They call it the A.M.C.V: Stands for “Advanced Multipurpose Combat Vest.” As for the weight: you’d think that: but you just haven’t had proper training with it yet, all my men out there: it’s like a second skin to them… they wear theirs all the time, don’t even feel it… and that’s what I like: specially for the one other goodie about these.”

 

Before Mordegrid would expect Pailurn wanted him to ask, Pailurn answered for him.

“These got trackers in em… and don’t worry about privacy: you give that up when you join the army: but the good in these is anyone with the head, like myself, have a good lock on where all of my men are… can be life saving in the event of a downed soldier or communications loss.”

 

Mordegrid tugged at the vest some more, trying to shift into a comfortable wear for it while looking for this aforementioned device. Pailurn only shook his head.

“You ain’t gonna find it, it’s teeny: that’s the miracle of microchips and what nots…. Dun worry about it though: we might even need it down there… but aight: you got your own lamp and your own radio now… lemme-”

 

He took the liberty of setting it to the right channel: then fastening it to the free shoulder on the vest.

“-There ya go. So now… let's move onto the last agenda of the day before we move out.”

 

“And what’s that?”

 

“Weapons.”

 

Pailurn said this while retrieving one of the shorter rifles from its molded bed inside of a case, holding it and inspecting its many notches and edges.

“How are you on firearms?”

 

Seeing that request, Mordegrid had brought with him: his issued sidearm for law enforcement officers. His model was a step up in stopping power from the majority of what was issued, it was out of concern than a standard 9 Millimeter wouldn’t have enough in it: but Mordegrid never had to put this to the test, being he’d only ever brandished his firearm once on duty: and just bringing it out was enough in that scenario.

 

He brought it out from his holster and showed it.

“This is about it.”

 

Pailurn tilted his head at the piece and made a curious noise with his mouth.

“Ooo… is that a 40? Uhh… Beretta… PX4 Storm… that’s an awful nice piece for someone in your field…”

 

The look he got for this begged that he may have sounded insulting: he dialed it back.

“- that’s _respect_ i’m giving you…. It’s a good piece: but how much ammo do you have for it?”

 

Mordegrid looked at the gun for a moment and lowered it.

“Just what’s inside the magazine: fourteen rounds.”

 

Pailurn shook his head disappointedly at him.

“Tch tch tch… aww Morbid: what are you doin? Only carrying one magazine with ya? Tsk tsk… I thought you’d know better.”

 

While he wasn’t being scolded seriously, Mordegrid felt a small pang of irritation.

“I do have an extra magazine… I kept it in my car, which you haven’t gotten back to me yet…”

 

Pailurn stood corrected, but not too badly.

“Ah… well: no big deal… my question for you is-”

 

He held out the rifle.

“- have you any experience with one of these?”

 

“A machine gun?

 

Pailurn took the tone in his voice and the raised brow for his answer.

“Guess not… _this_ is an M16a4 standard assault rifle, chambered in 5.56 by 45 NATO rounds, got these rails on top and below the barrel for yer sights… laser pointers, or even an M203 Underbarrel 40 Millimeter Grenade launcher…. But I think this may be a little out of your knowhow…”

 

He placed the gun back in its bed and rustled up another one.

“How about this?”

 

Mordegrid had the same answer, ultimately.

“... another machinegun?”

 

He received a far less thorough lesson on guns this time.

“Heckler and Koch: MP5, 9 Millimeter… no?”

 

Mordegrid couldn't help but look ignorant when facing these large and dangerous weapons: it just wasn't his expertise to know what they were.

 

Pailurn returned that weapon to its spot and actually asked Mordegrid this time.

“Well… what _are_ you comfortable with, then?”

 

Mordegrid had to bring up his gun again.

“Well… this is about it: it’s the largest gun I’ve ever held… apart from the 22 my father used to take me shooting me… but yeah… just this.”

 

Pailurn rubbed the stubble under his chin.

“Hmmm… we don’t got anything regarding 40. S and Dubya (W)... so we don’t got any rounds for that: but I can’t have ya goin with only one in the gun…”

 

Once again, Pailurn seemed to overlook the fact Mordegrid had more ammunition in his car which as far as they were concerned: fell off of the face of the earth. But he finally snapped his fingers.

“- I got it.”

 

Then went over to one of the smaller of the weapon containers and popped it open: Bringing out what it had to offer.

“Here… I think this’ll suit ya.”

 

It was another handgun, and Pailurn kept shoving it at Mordegrid until he finally took it and began inspecting it… he got a proper gun lesson this time.

“That’s your Beretta’s cute little cousin right there, _wildy_ more popular. The M9a1, standard edition in the armed forced: 9 Millimeter, packed nice and tight in-”

 

He moved over to another box and brought out three black magazines: loaded with brass and lead.

“- there here, 15 round box mags… I reckon it’s the closest to what you’re used to… unless you want me to ring up your daddy and ask to borrow that 22 of his.. Eh?”

 

The last part was supposed to be a joke to get a smile… but it didn’t work out so well: Mordegrid had to tell him why… losing a bit of his joy.

“My father’s dead actually.”

 

“Oh… my condolences.”

* * *

 

Mordegrid and Pailurn found themselves staring down into the new abyss again… the top of the hole had changed some since they left: anchors staked into the ground: holding long snakes of rope which traveled down into the black… aspiring to reach the bottom.

 

(They did… Pailurn’s engineers could hear the distinctive sound of a pile of rope hitting the ground when they threw them… as well as the voices suddenly halting)

 

Behind them, all wearing the same vests… and carrying varying armaments and forces of killing: 97 of the United State’s finest were prepared for anything… their weapons stirring nervously on their backs, in their rucksacks, or dancing in their hands.

 

Pailurn’s watched clicked into its place.

11:00 AM March 17th 201X

It would stand to be recorded, the beginning of the mission: the end of Brainz. As soon as the hands found their places: Pailurn looked up from his arm… and to the first team standing beside them at the mouth into hell. The survey team… Headed By Sergeant Lomphetts.

“You ready for this, Boys? This is it.”

 

The nod signaled the beginning of the operation.

“Alright then... -”

 

Fury rushed into his chest.

“- then _MOVE OUT!_ Survey Team “Headlamp” HEAD ON DOWN: LET'S ROLL!!"

 

Glowsticks snapped into life, throwing flares burst into action: and weapons cocked into killing: the first men of the expedition slid down the ropes, fates were going to be sealed in the underground.

 

It began… the sky boomed above: mimicking the force in Pailurns voice: it rumbled deep into the black clouds as the scent of rain filled the air.

A storm was coming...

 

[MOVE IN!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMF_PRSXbXk)  
  
  
  
  



	21. Unconsummated Denunciation

 

Back to the real world and the overwhelming darkness it held for him: Brainz crept out into the open.

 

[Into the Wild.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLZWv7DsvxE)

 

The fluorescent flora that had lit up the ground had gone out since he’d left them, so he was on his own now: back to crawling, guided only by the diminutive flame he clutched tightly in his hand. He had nothing but his own thoughts to pad out the slow wandering as he went on almost blindly. Only impeded by his own laborious breaths.

“Stupid… mushroom- _thing-_ telling me about _sins…_ the fuck did it know? I knew… knew there was gonna be something… something in that place- too nice…”

 

Brainz lifted up onto his knees to get a sense of where he was. It didn’t do any good for him: he had nothing to go on but the neon trees that stood so far away.There was no sense of direction or progress: he could only wander where the path permitted him to… even if he was just going backwards. He continued to creep through the grass.

“- life of sin… life of sin… couldn’t have been a guess: it had to know… did they know what I did?... like they read it off me-”

 

He couldn’t get it out of mind: not when there was nothing to do so in the real world, he could only obsess over it all, fester in the pool of his paranoid thoughts, he was going to drown in it one day… if the real world didn’t kill him first.

 

And what that one “Temmie” told him… the only one that sounded proper… “Bob.” What was he trying to tell him? It was like they were excusing it… it couldn’t help his nature: nobody could when Brainz thought about it… it's what made them people… he was different though: it didn’t count for him. There had to be a blame for everything he did: either for him or for the person he inflicted upon.

 

He found another mushroom again and probed it into bringing him out of the dark… it looked familiar but he couldn’t tell if he’d been this way before: or was he turned around… where was the way he came in? More importantly, the way out? Even though the room couldn’t have been larger, he began to feel claustrophobic. Trapped.

 

He followed the respite in the dark, and tried to keep his head out from the bleakness.

“Don’t think about it-Don’t think about it, Don’t think about it-... don’t think about-”

 

He whispered that mantra in his own breaths as he continued to crawl.

“-what was that other thing he said? _What I do from here, defines who I am?..._ that doesn’t work… not for me. It wouldn’t matter… if I changed, even if I could. I’ll be the same guy everybody wants to end… I’ll never get out of this… Its just not happening…”

 

Brainz stopped to catch his breath for moment as he felt his heart pushing on his chest harder and harder, His wheezes for air were a mix of the exertion from crawling at his rushed pace, and a low grade panic from feeling trapped. But in the middle of his break, he heard something else besides his own breathing. A small, rustling sound: the same he made while slinking through the grass. He turned around and held his lighter where he could: trying to source the noise, it sounded too far away to be near him: but it was _there._

“Hello?... is someone there?”

 

He called out into the dark and would never receive an answer: only the persisting sound of shuffling… perhaps where he was or where he needed to go, maybe it was trying to reach him.

“Temmie?...”

That was only what he _hoped_ it was… but as that word rang out: the noise stopped… he waited where he was: sitting without so much as…

 

He couldn’t help but feel a shiver coursing through him and shuddering at it, he started moving again: just in case.

“Fucking hell… I think I shoulda gone back… I gotta get out of here… I gotta fucking get out of here…”

 

He pushed himself through turn after turn in the path, they seemed to bring him in and out from places he could’ve sworn he’d been before. Every mushroom he found was dormant: they could’ve been new or just fallen asleep again before he’d circle back. He tried desperately to not realize this… to think of something else: something not to terrifying.

“Wait… why did that… yeah.. Why did Bob toss up a coin?-”

 

He was able to reach into his back pocket and bring it out into the dim light he was carrying, holding it just in front of his face and distracting himself with the minor details. It was a flawed, circular shaped piece of gold… perhaps pyrite, but it looked shined in the light. It was without any ridges or marking except a letter engraved into both sides.

_G_

It was interesting to say the least… with all the gems he’d seen embedded in the walls: this could’ve been real. That these creatures were blessed with the abundance of exoptable minerals and gems… all there for exploitation.

“- why would they even give me this? Tossed it like a coin toss… very trope like… I wonder if I can bribe anyone with this… what’s the inflation rate in a place like this?... cept my stupid soul… that’s not negotiable... already belongs to the devil.”

 

He sounded tired on that last breath, he could feel the sluggishness trying to weigh him down, turning his muscles into cement, the sort of weakness only felt in a bad dream… where you have no choice but to run from a horrible monster… only to feel your body weighing you down, submerged into molasses.

 

“Wait…”

He’d been trapped in this maze for over twenty minutes or so: when he finally spotted something that wasn’t familiar… there was another indistinguishable glow just off into the distance: no different than the others he’d passed: except this one was _pink._ Or was it red? He felt that he was going color blind for some reason… it wasn’t red enough that it hurt his eyes, but enough to look unusual. Nevertheless, it was something new, and according to the path he was on: it was straight ahead.

 

He felt a qualified second wind trying to pick him up: Brainz inched closer and closer to the light, keeping his eyes dead on it… he didn’t even consider what it could’ve been: a threat would’ve been one of those things. It was just something to ebb the sensory deprivation: so it had to be good. He eagerly pushed on towards it  until two things occured that made him stop. His path made a right turn, he’d have to turn away from the light…

 

But he wasn’t ready to feel panic, because he discovered a different kind of familiarity when it came to glowing blue… it was a sign- a literal sign, this was the happiest he’d felt upon discovering on of these: even as he squinted to read the red transmogrified text: hugging the sign as he stood up, just to ensure he would stay put.

 

_Without candles or magic to guide them Home, the monsters used crystals to navigate._

 

Crystals… that’s what the pink(or red) light was: he could see it now as he squinted into the emptiness ahead… there were more of them all over the world, they would act as his landmarks… begging to him that he was making progress.  But there was more, he was about to go back down: but the sign had something else to it… just in the dim glow of his lighter: he saw a small shape right next to it: suspended in the air almost.

 

It looked like a lantern, the flame inside long gone: but before he could come to conclusions about it: he felt his hand coming onto the cold thing.

 

Suddenly, a brilliant light overtook him: Brainz crouched down and shielded his face and eyes from the jarring flash: huddled into himself… but when he recovered after the few minutes of paranoia… it was gone… back into the dark.

 

It only took another bit of contact to realize what was going on here. It was like a short lived light bulb, upon being touched it would grant mere seconds of dazzling light… in fact it wouldn’t just stop there: the entire system of twisting and turning paths would light up as well… like christmas lights… all dependent and held back by that one bad bulb.

“The candle that burns twice as bright, lasts half as long… so this is what it meant.”

 

This was more of an excuse to say that idiom and feel like he finally understood it meant. But his small solace in himself was interrupted again: the rustling noise was back: again sounding so far away… yet closing in. He looked back but of course, couldn’t see that far.

“What _is_ that noise?? Something’s _in_ here with me… I gotta move.”

 

At least he had something he could work on now, Brainz kept the lantern up and running: repeatedly stimulating it as he tried to commit the visible twists, turns and branching paths to memories… muttering the sequence of moves he’d take: doing it at a hurried pace lest he stay here to find out what that noise was.

“Right, right, left, right, left, right right right, right…-”

 

He could see more of these short lived lanterns beckoning him to reach them, a small sliver of safe havens and checkpoints.

 

To his credit, it worked to moderate success, he was able to reach the following checkpoints barring the one or two times he needed to double back for making an error in memory. The maze had become dreadfully convoluted, but it was a step better than the first room: because he had a _plan._ It helped, knowing helped. It was like a security blanket, knowing you weren’t wandering completely blind, but wandering a predetermined path near blindly: sometimes for minutes without finding another light source as some of the stretches were quite long: he’d rely on the pink crystals for directions … the sign didn’t lie.

 

The strange sound he was hearing would cease for a moment or two, but everytime he stopped at a checkpoint or for a breather, it would start up again: as if it waited for him to stop moving. Like it was pinpointing where he was… all the more incentive to leave.

 

“Oh… _oh!_ Ohhh!”

After just departing from his last lantern and the five consecutive right turns he made, Brainz was able to make out something completely different from the surroundings he’d gotten so acclimated to. It looked like soulless wall of rock lining a dim stretch of pathing…. And he just just barely see that it ended at a point… leading into a claustrophobic tunnel completely drenched in darkness. It looked the boundary of the room: or better yet… the _exit._

 

Hope gleamed in his eyes: there was a way out and he was looking at it, the situation became far less bleak! He croaked with relief as he began to crawl for it: remembering the last of his directions.

“Oh, thank _god…._ Right, left… right… right…”

 

His shuffling became frantic, the damp grass was beginning to hinder him as his wet body was slipping when he rushed: he was taking the turns with less precaution, he just _had_ to get out… it was just two more left turns, a right, and then three more lefts…. Or was it the other way around? He didn’t give himself enough time to commit it… he almost had confidence in his luck for once: until he met with a dead end.

“Oh no…”

 

It was frustrating, it was right _there,_ he could see the wall staring right at him across the gap, he was just one turn off! All he’d have to do is back up and take the other option! All he needed to do was back up… right into the source of the noise, the loudest and closest it had ever been.

 

From the sound, so close: he could almost see the blades of grass toppling and felling… it was going to be with him at any moment… there was no avoiding it now: only preparing.  He tried to hold his breaths, to chance hiding from it… but he couldn’t: his desperate gasps for air were mingled with his anxious mutterings.

“Oh god.. Oh god… oh god-”

 

Brainz sat as close to the edge of the path as he could, the farthest he could manage: his bat was grabbed and it reared its spiked head; _it_ was ready for this, Brainz wasn’t.

 

Closer and closer it got, taking its sweet time to approach him: eventually it’d gotten close enough: not to make it out but to hear something else intertwined with the rustling. It sounded like a squelching noise, like it was _slithering_ towards him.

 

The noise gave Brainz the ability to preempt the disgusted face he’d make, it was in good time because he held it when it finally came into the light… spawning his overused reaction to meeting a new face.

“What… the fuck?”

He wasn’t even too frightened, he was more revolted at it than anything. It crept just into visibility and stopped.

 

What it _was,_ it didn’t even look like anything… it looked like an amorphous pile of slime, obviously sentient in that it was capable of autonomous movement. It was almost two feet tall. Brainz took it as a rancid gelatin mold… made of mold? Something came to mind and he was sure to share it, sneering disgustedly.

“Eugh… looks like that freaking “shit” emoticon kids use on their touch phones came to life… I mistook you for an actual threat there. ”

 

As his demeaning deconstruction came into earspace, he almost regretted it: questioning if this thing could understand him and recognize insults.  

“Uhh, wait… do you even have _ears_ … or a mouth?... like what _are you?...-”_

 

Then something more important came to mind, he almost forgot and rolled his eyes at himself.

“- more importantly: what do you want?”

 

The thing just stood there motionlessly, blocking his path… he really couldn’t get the intention from it: the fact it was giving him nothing to go by was agitating… so he began waving his arm right in front of its… “face”?

“Hell- _ooooo???_ What do you want with me? Why are you following me around? Do you do anything besides get in the way?”

 

It reacted this gesture, making Brainz recoil back with an audible aversion to seeing it move.

“Eugh.”

  
It began to wiggle and convulse: the motions rolling up and down its glutinous body. It looked like it was freaking out, shaking faster and faster, making a range of unpleasant squishing sounds. It was creeping him out… so much that Brainz decided to do something on a whim of all things. Dangerous thinking.

 

With a stern look on his face, Brainz stood himself onto his feet despite the narrow path that dissuaded him to do so earlier. And with his significant advantage in height over the jiggling thing: he brought down his boot and flattened it with a stomp… the innards of the slime splattered up his shin.

“Awwwgh… god that feels nasty!... Ugh it’s _warm…._ Ew ew… ew…”

 

Brainz retracted his foot from the mushy pile and watched it indignantly as it seemed to deflate… he sat back down for a whiff of his leg: retching when he did.

“ _Auoogh…_ god. _…_ it _STINKS…_ look at my leg… it looks like I stepped in a bucket of diarrhea…”  

 

The recurring question set in.

“Why did I do that?”

 

However, it wasn’t being presented in the normal way: not hinting at the morales he kept running into, it was more of a selfish consideration for how unpleasant the results were… luckily for Brainz: he wouldn’t have to worry about morales… because it turns out he didn’t kill it.

 

“What…”

The pile of mush began to move again, sucking itself back into a form and effectively regenerating… Brainz even felt the pull on his leg, he saw the stains lift themselves out from the fabric on his jeans and return to the being. Sparing him completely of the substance and impressing him greatly… too bad the pile itself was about to horrify him.

 

It didn’t stop even when its original shape was assumed again: somehow and impossibly… directly violating the laws of mass, it kept growing in height… gaining more and more before a cowering man. It emitted a guttural noise as it did.

“ **_GuuuoOoh.”_ **

 

“Oh, what the **_fuck,_ ** man…”

He just watched it in an absolute stupor, his mouth agape and eyes peeled as wide as humanly possible.

 

The thing finished when it took a foot over his height… its body was divided into pseudopod like segments that twisted and slipped over each other, and to finish it off: it manifested a segment on the top… it twitched and squirmed almost looking like a head.

 

As frozen as he was staring at the thing… Brainz began making dire glances behind him: at the coveted path he’d missed… all while trying to process this.

“Uh-uhhh…. Uhhn… Uhh…”

 

He only knew one thing, he wasn’t touching it, in fact… he wasn’t even going to try to fight it, not a chance in hell… instead a much more dangerous yet instantaneous idea was already accepted before he even thought of it.

 

Brainz shook his head at the thing.

“ _Fuck this.”_

 

Then he spun around and crouched down… with no time appointed to give him a doubt: he swung his arms for momentum and leapt across the gap… yelling all the way: an abject reaction to his own choice as he barreled forward flailing his arms.

 

“ **_OOOF!!”_ **

It was the sound of all of his breath behind pressed out of his lungs and he planted himself right into the wall lining the path, the rebound from the impact along with the disorientating from the hit were almost enough to topple him backwards, but he just managed to stabilize himself: along with some choice words too.

“ _Ohhh my Godd… that was stupid!_

_Why do I keep doing stupid things to myself!_

_Oh my god..”_

 

His legs were one tier above complete jelly, and he carefully and meticulously turned himself around while hugging the surface for dear life, leaning at this point… when he finally looked up from his feet, he couldn’t see where he came from or the giant slime monster… he could hear it though, the sound of it gyrating. He began to laugh nervously, incredulously for the thought that this no-brained fringe idea actually worked! He made it to the exit and there was no way that thing was going to get to him anytime soon. He felt so much better about himself now, that he called out to it sardonically.

“I’ll be leaving now! See ya around!”

 

With his arrogant laugh, he shimmeyed his way onto legitimate land again, back into a claustrophobic hallway which he was so grateful for… still dark: but no longer risking death if he lost his balance. Until the path gave out from in front of him into a shallow pool of water: which he'd fallen head first into with a thunderous splash.

 

He emerged his upper half from it immediately and with a flail.

“ _GGaaaaaGUGH!!_

 _FUCKING HELL,_ I **JUST** got dry!-”

 

He angrily waded through the frigid water while trying to reignite his lighter to get a sense of direction.

“-of course… I’m not allowed to win!  What is this now? **_Level 2?_ ** Gonna be a water maze now? Am I gonna get swarmed by piranhas now, just to fuck me over some more?”

 

He was having trouble getting the lightsource to stay after a spark, but while he fidgeted with the wick and complained: he was able to see something up ahead: that familiar shade of neon blue, this time manifesting as a recorder flower, he had no other plan but to approach it: carefully of course: eventually finding solid ground to get himself out of the water. He was going to be drenched for a while again. He groaned dejectedly.

“I just can’t win… I bet that’s a trap…”

 

He proceeded for the glowing flower with his arm out, feeling for an obstacle and occasionally dropping down to feel if the ground in front of him still existed. Lest he expect a drop just before the flower for him to wander into.

“Wait a sec, what’s that?”

 

There wasn’t anything new in the environment he saw, but when he looked down to gaze at his lighter, there was a bright red glow under him… behind him too: he was leaving a trail of red footprints.

 

“The shit?”

 

It was the foot he tried to snuff out the slime with, while most of the residue was drawn off of him: the bottom of his boot was still laced with it… which was now taking on a glaring crimson shade. Brainz just couldn’t get enough of the unpleasantry covering him, he groaned some more and tried to scrape it off against the ground.

“Yeeuck…”

He’d eventually reduced it to a bunch of smears on the ground: the humorous thing was how it mimicked the design of his boots, if he squinted hard enough actually… he could almost see a red copy of the brand name on the bottom.

 

_Thank you._

  
“Thank you??? Wait… that’s not what it says, I thought these were-”

 

Brainz stopped himself and rubbed his eyes before he looked back at the smudge: which is what it was, an indiscernible shade of red smeared on the ground. He had to find the humor in his misperception or else he’d overthink it.

“Heh… _thank you._ Like it’s talkin to me, ‘Thanks for steppin on me’”

 

Well that was over, and Brainz edged closer and closer to the flower, keeping in mind how easy it was to overwrite it if he didn’t keep his thoughts to himself which he actively did. Still taking caution in the path and still trying to get a consistent flame from his zippo.

 

“God though… I wonder what happened to flowey, hope that kid’s alright… freaking ghost scared him off… haven’t seen him since, it’s been like what… a couple hours?-”

 

An empty habit caused him to look at his forearm: One, he couldn’t even see passed his nose: two: he didn’t have a watch.

“- right… I don’t have one: but how long have I been _down_ here, like… fuck! There’s no sense of time in this god forsaken place- Oop! Almost got a flame- but yeah, do these things sleep on a schedule? There’s no day and night… Well, that’s assuming these things DO sleep… why would they? They already break so many laws of logic…”

 

He made it to the flower without any further incident, and finally got his lighter back.

“Ah! There we go-”

He slipped, and forgot to keep his mouth shut, he covered it up but it was most likely too late for that. Still, His hand caressed the delicate petals.

 

And like he expected he was met with a bitter voice that hinted at overall contempt… only it didn’t belong to him this time...

 

**_Behind you._ **

 

* * *

  
[Confrontation](https://youtu.be/VH6HIHmhvQU)

The darkness was swiftly banished from the room as light invaded every inch, Brainz had to shield his eyes from his abrupt departure from the dark existence. He looked around at the visible surroundings… and up to the above: just curious for the lightsource: he’d never find it.

 

There was no panic though… Brainz never could’ve expected this in the short term: yet, he knew it was coming: like the frail child awaiting their vaccination with fear and trembling, it was just _when:_ that eluded them. But as the depths of horror would eventually find them, they would realize… it was their own selves that frightened them. Now… with it finally coming into fruition, after all he’d been through: after everything that beset upon him: Brainz chuckled hopelessly.

“Heh…was wonderin when you were gonna show up.”

 

He slowly turned around to the sound of disturbed water and shifting metal, no urgency, no fear… he knew it would stop: a perfect way to make this perfect standoff happen. And when it did just that: he was able to have another look at his “nightmare’ There was something different about it: he could remember nothing but absolute panic when he gazed upon the thing clad in armor. But that was all absent: there was nothing but abomination now.

Wearing the same suit: riddled with bullet holes, exposing a blue looking midriff covered in scales, different than the hole he left in the wearer… a vile looking claw stuck out where a gauntlet used to be. That bright ember was still staring at him from behind the scraped visor, still burning: still hating.

 

Brainz took in the sight, once intimidating with the intentions it never spared… now its just motionless: now, it was just in his way. He snorted then forced his voice into a bittersweet, sardonic glaze. A contemptuous smile and squinted eyes all matched with the casual overtone… fit for this “friendly” bout of conversation. He took a sharp breath.

“So... how _long_ were you waiting…. _Undyne_?”

He exaggerated the name so sweetly and condescendingly, he knew about her and he wanted to make that clear: the pull she had on him was gone… and maybe that was all she really had behind surprise attacks and stacked advantages. He wasn’t giving her any more power: he was done being afraid… but he was far from done hating her guts.

 

Undyne didn’t seem to react to this, she was motionless to Brainz, unbeknownst to him: there was a low growling noise: building up from inside the helmet. He didn’t know he was going to be answered when he cut her off: cutting off his feigned friendly tone and throwing them both into bitterness: swiping his arm discardingly at her.

“Y’know what? No, I don’t fuckin care. Don’t even try to start that you didn’t set this shit up, it’s got your drama horse- _shit_ all over it-”

 

Teeth began to grind behind the visor, hands were clenched into the tightest fists possible: they began to quiver.

“- I kinda knew that that little _stunt_ on the boardwalk wasn’t gonna be enough for you-”

 

He slid into deep sarcastic mockery: the fury behind it rasped in his voice, yet he gave it such little energy and care. Brainz held his hands up and shook them deceitfully, weakly.

“ _-Oooh NOoooo._ That wouldn’t be _fitting,_ it wouldn’t suit such an engorged ego as _yours_ would it? Here is _perfect!_ You set it up and wait for me to fall for it: then you come down like the will of _god almighty_ himself: and you strike down the bad guy! Lights come on and you get your standing ovation!

 

That’s just _B-E-A-_ **_fuck’n_ ** _-utiful!”_

 

His face twisted into rictus, ridiculing grin: and his hands erupted into a stinging round of patronizing applause and the friendly encouragement come back with a vengeance: still devoid of any real effort to sound genuine.

 

“ _Yaaay!!_

_Hooray for little Undyne!!!_

_She did it!!_

_She’s so brave!_

_Let’s throw her a PARTY!!”_

 

Then he forcefully pointed a red finger down her way: forcing his facial muscles to their limits and his voice into a high pitched groan.

“ _I may have  FUCKED someone up because of you... but, hey: Good for Yoooou!!!”_

 

He ended it with a prolonged thumbs up, letting the spite set in as he openly defied everything his adversary stood for. But he retracted his red ragged hand and dropped the face: when he could hear _something_ coming from that helmet.

 

This… unintelligible muttering, sharp and stuttering… like it was just choking on its own fury. Suddenly: the two arms shot out from their sides: trembling and jittering in their movements: they grabbed the helmet atop of the suit and began lifting it off… the thing Brainz had tried to do so far earlier. As it came off, the true nature of the vibrant red plume sprouting from behind was made clear: it didn’t belong to the helmet, it belonged to her. It was hair.

 

Brainz silently waited as it lifted higher and higher off, only mouthing the response to what it presented to him.

“The fuck _are_ you…”

 

The muttering became louder and more pronounced, he just just make out the scrawlings of blistering profanities, words he’d assumed were unknown to these creatures… but not this one: as the helmet was almost out of the way… and-

 

“What the **_FUCK_ ** are you **_talking_ ** about, you CONDESCENDING- LITTLE- **_ASSHOLE…”_ **

 

[I hate you too.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixBBZdrMXAI)

 

A furious woman’s voice erupted from her as the helmet was then thrashed off of her head and thrown to the ground with so much force that it crumpled like an empty can with the impact. The sudden burst admittedly startled Brainz, he recoiled slightly then titled his head and squinted… taken back by what he saw.

“You are one… _ugly_ motherfucker…”

 

That was his response to it all… not even minding the language barrier being broken in his head or what she did with the helmet… she was just the nastiest peice of work he’d ever laid his eyes on… it was more an **_IT_ ** instead of a she. It was the last thing he expected, especially after that bedroom.

 

This egg shaped head…  dressed with webbed fins on either side… that gigantic snarl on it: with huge yellow fangs. All around a murky blue colored face… covered in flaking fish scales. To top it all off: she was wearing an eyepatch… the same eye Brainz had stuck a knife through the helmet with… while the other eye was heavily jaundiced… it had a tear welling up in it. This… piranha headed thing was almost blushing.

 

She looked really angry, pushed to the point of eye watering despair it seemed: Undyne stared down at him growling these deep labored breaths.

 

Brainz adopted his own determined stare in her, never breaking eye contact… and somehow: he already knew what he was going to say… sounding entitled and suddenly remembering a remark he had for her earlier.”

“You know…when I said I was gonna gut you like a fish-”

 

“Shut up, **shut up,** **_shut up, SHUT UUUP!!!”_ **

Brainz was cut off by a torrent of harsh cries: forced to submit to keeping quiet. Undyne’s eye twitched and flickered: then the one gloved hand she still had was ready to point at Brainz: she restrained her voice to quivering and shuddering smolder of the fur behind.

“ **_YOU…_ ** you-you.. _you -you_ **_you-you YOU!!!!!_ **

You come here… and put yourself right into everyone’s hopes and dreams… then you go and try to just -”

 

Without a warning: Undyne bent over to pick up a stone laying on the ground: Brainz reared himself to dodge, expecting it to be thrown at him: but instead he watched as Undyne crushed it into dust between her exposed and gloved hands.

“- **_*RRNGH!*_ ** crush them, just like that…-”

 

Brainz felt a remark trying to surface itself, it didn’t have the chance to come out: he was in for the full rant from her.

 

“-but _THAT’S_ not enough for you!!! _Ohhh, FUCK no…_ **_you_ ** have to be worse! It’s not enough your sole existence is a crime to _everyone,_ it’s not enough that you see everyone and everything as just a means for you to _TAKE and EXPLOIT…_ It’s not enough to just know the lives you’ve RUINED…”

 

She stomped the ground with a thunderous quake that shook the entire room.

 

“- **_NO: It’s NOT._ ** But it’s just the _WAY…_ you do it all! How you push yourself into everyone’s lives… spitting into everyone’s dreams: twisting it so its  All. About. **YOU…** then you walk away with that shit eating GRIN!

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!?”

 

She panted after the last outburst echoed down the corridor: then stroked her long natural plume of blazing red hair back: still quivering. The peaked volume and rage in her voice was enough to trigger Brainz to bark right back. Hearing someone blindly villainizing him one time too many, especially someone like _her:_ he couldn’t control himself.

 

“Will you just... _Stop_ … with this- _villainizing_ **_BULLSHIT!!!_ ** Just fucking **STOP** already! You’re not convincing _ANYONE-”_

 

It was his turn to rant now, after everything she put him through: she was trying to make him out to be the no holds barred bad guy: while everyone else was perfectly innocent.

 

 _“_ \- Why are all of you blaming ME?! Fucking blaming me for EVERYTHING wrong with the world. A plane crashes in a building? That’s _my fault._ A child dies of cancer? _My_ fault! All of you ugly fucks starting a war with people?! _MY FAULT-”_

 

His hands smacked into his chest with a resonating slapping noise: they would prod and forcefully push into him everytime he mentioned himself.

“- THIS??? _MY_ fault?  Really?? **_MY FAULT??? NOnononono!!!-”_ **

 

Then they pointed at her.

“- it’s **_YOUR FAULT!!!_ ** You fucking started this!!!-”

 

Undyne looked away from him just to begin to scoff and refute him: But Brainz yelled louder to stop it. He made huge lunges with his head and neck, making large nodding gestures to override anything she would hope to say.

 

“- Yes it is! Yes it is!! **_YES IT, FUCKING IS!!!!-”_ **

He began to slam points into the argument, slapping his hands together every time he exaggerated a word to say. Sounding like firecrackers with each strike.

“-It’s _ALL_ your faults!!! **_I_ ** **didn’t do-*** **_FUCKING*_ ** **… *SHIT*: TO YOU!!!**

The * **_ONLY*_ ** reason I’m here, was because of an * **_ACCIDENT*… IT WAS AN *ACCIDENT*!!!_ **

**_I_ ** did **_NOT_ ** want to come here!!! I never **_*DID*!!!_ ** I’d **_*NEVER*_ ** want to come to this god forsaken place... **_*EVER*!!!!”_ **

 

I, **_JUST…_ ** wanted to go… **_HOME!!!”_ **

Brainz threw his arms down to his sides and placed in his own circle: just for a second or two: just trying to breath to prevent his head from getting any lighter and lifting off into unconsciousness. He was back at it again… sounding more despairing than anything… the root of his agony.

 

“But you motherfuckers just **_wouldn’t_ ** LAY OFF!!!

You wouldn’t **_LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!_ **

I _just…_ wanted to LEAVE this place… I **_NEVER_ ** wanted to do anything.

I wasn’t going to **_DO_ ** anything!!

But _no…_ you just wouldn’t have it…

You just **_couldn’t_ ** leave me be…

You just **_WOULDN’T HAVE IT!!”_ **

 

The ranting was becoming quickly hysterical, Brainz erupted into a cold sweat: his heart was quaking. He repeated his golden point once more: this time with more exasperation.

“I just- want to go **_HOME!!!!_ **

But you fucks just _wouldn’t_ even let me….

Did you think, I was just gonna bend the _fuck_ over for you?

 **_NO!! I_ ** protected myself!!

It was self defense, you **_CUNTS!_ **

SELF **_FUCKING_ ** DEFENSE!!!

 

And what do **_YOU_ ** do?!”

He took the largest and most rapid gasp for air yet and forced it all out in a display of infuriated mockery, he placed his fists against his eyeballs and shook them.

“ _OH BOO HOO HOOOO!!!_

THE **BIG, BAD** **_BRAINZ!!!_ **

HE’S COMING TO KILL US ALL, HE’S SUCH A **_BAD GUY!!!!_ **

WE’RE **_SOOOOOO_ ** INNOCENT AND PEACHY FUCKING CLEAN!!!-”

 

He paid no attention to the rage rebuilding in Undyne’s face as she ground her unsightly teeth together with tremendous force. Even when he directed his next part just in a display to belittle her as much as possible. Throwing his voice as far away as he could to sound completely and utterly pathetic.

“- _OHHH, UNDYNE, UNDYNE, YOU_ **_VALIANT ROGUE YOU._ **

PLEASE, WON'T YOU SAVE US  FROM THE BAD GUY???

WE’LL KISS YOUR BIG BLUE ASS AND SUCK YOUR DICK FOR YOU-”

 

He reached the end of his hypothetical and gave his genuine feeling on it: throwing his head forward to emphasis it to the best of his ability: to broadcast it to everyone that he’d ever met.

“-* **_FFUCK* YOU!!!!!_ ** ”

 

For moments, all that would disperse between them was the sound of labored panting, some ragged coughs sporadically laced in there. Undyne grit her teeth together, but seemed to hold her tongue for the longest while… seemingly rearing up to scream back at him: but changing her mind. Finally… something made it out of her: after Brainz’s words had long stopped echoes through. She asked him something: blankly.

“So how did killing him help you get home?...”

 

Brainz was still recovering from his lightheadedness, nothing seemed to make sense right now: everything trying to work through him just turned into aggravated confusion.

“ _What?!”_

 

Undyne glared at him deeper, and repeated herself with more emphasis and accusation, turning the vagueness into direct guilt.

“I _said…_ how did killing a defenseless old man… help you get **home…?-”**

 

The words chased into him and seeped into his brain like poison, he felt the sickness grabbed at him: it was far too soon. Far too soon to push the memory into obscurity… but just when it couldn’t come back any harder: Undyne kept pushing it.

 

“-I’m  having some real god-damned trouble figuring that out…. Why don’t you _enlighten me_. You’re so smart.”

 

The only thing he could grasp was asking himself, how could she possibly know what he did: was she watching him this whole time? Who told her? Had someone sold him out? It shook him to his very core… he could feel the culpability trying to consume him from the inside: without a way to atone for it. But Undyne kept going… it was her turn to share grievances… near lecturing him.

“In _fact,_ while you’re at it: how did breaking into my home… then torching it, knowing I wasn’t there to kick your ass… you really have a knack for hurting things that can’t fight back… how does _that_ help you get home?-”

 

Brainz was about to desperately try something to make all the rightful accusations stop: they were scraping mind up like coarse sandpaper slinking through the folds in his brain. But he was interrupted before he could even start to retort.

 

She began to slip, letting the adverse effect Brainz had on her begin to seep out: she sounded really upset if anything: that she had to be angry lest she start crying… that state where you could sound eerily calm, like your other emotions failed to register.

“- Tell me… how did pilfering that coat… how did taking it help you get home?”

 

This would stand for the only question he would be able to directly answer, it would’ve been perfect to spite her with. But his temper flared again at the mention of it, the last time someone brought the jacket up: it went horribly. He just wanted to know why he was being subjected to this all for a lousy jacket.

“ _Ohh_ my god… for _fucks sakes! AGAIN_ with this STUPID jacket!?-”

 

Being angry was the only way to cover up the guilt for what he’d done: to reference it in a selfish way. He had to, to keep his resolve.

“- you know, that _asshole_ brought it on himself! I was about to _leave_ him in tact, but then he decided to open his stupid _cooch_ mouth about this, like it's the holy grail! What is so _goddamned_ important about this jacket!!!?”

 

He tugged at the collar angrily.

 

Undyne only followed this, by shaking her head solemnly, dropping all semblance of tone: like there was nothing that could describe what she felt about this, so she just didn’t express it. Sounding blank… tired: otherwise done with it all. She wouldn’t even look him in the eyes.

 

“That jacket… was all Gerson had left…

And me? I was **_protecting_ ** it…”

 

She was able to look up to him finally, judgmentally: scrunching her face to further show objective laden disgust.

“You?... you’re standing there wearing his… his “all but daughter’s” jacket... after you’ve slain him in cold blood… and here you are: saying the things you are, so _stupid…_ and arrogant.”

 

She looked off again, just trying to remember the last time she saw somebody in that coat… that somebody who deserved to wear it… the somebody who _didn’t_ deserve to meet her. She began to drift off into it.

“Maybe… maybe _you_ never had anybody worth losing in your life: I can’t imagine somebody like you would ever have one:... but _maybe,_ you never did… never losing someone to the point you couldn’t even so much as _look_ at their precious possessions… because it hurts too much….”

 

The gaze was brought back to Brainz… this glazed look of compunction: her face was alien enough to him: but the emotions it was able to purvey, made that irrelevant… the way she looked at him, it was like looking into a mirror, a horrible monster staring him in the eye… struck with that look of sorrow… he couldn’t look away: or even react. Undyne’s eye looked glassy…

“I… I took her away from him…”

 

The eye squinted at him disdainfully for a moment.

“You’re not the only one who’s fallen down here… you know… she was first…

And he… he took her in… like he did for me once... -”

 

It didn’t even seem she was talking to Brainz anymore, more that she was falling into a memory: a painful one at that… it strained her just to say it… going into almost a sense of self loathing.

“- and what did I do?...  I took her away from him…”

 

Brainz was incredulous at what he was hearing, it seemed so obvious from his experience with this thing, but to flat out admit what she did? It sounded like there was regret, something she should’ve been incapable of.

“... protecting that jacket… it was the _least_ I could’ve done... but I should've known memorializing it like that: that wouldn't stop someone like you... would it? That would mean you know  _respect_..." 

 

“So you admit it, you’ve killed good people… for no reason.”

 

The response felt autonomous, Brainz took everything that was given to him and batted it back into her face with a disrespectful sneer. Undyne did not take it well, and she changed both of her claws in an angry growl.

“ **NYEEGRGH!!!!** How **_DUMB_ ** can you **_BE?!_ ** You _fucking-”_

 

She screamed internally and shook some more, restraining the outburst, but returning with a more controlled flow of contempt for him, shuddering.

“You don’t know _anything!!_ If you fucking even _KNEW_ what was going on… but you don’t: you _REFUSED_ to listen to ANYBODY but yourself! Yet you act like you know _EVERYTHING_ there is to know! Carrying on with your own little WAR.”

 

Brainz retaliated with haste.

“That’s because it’s _all_ **_BULLSHIT!!”_ **

 

She lost her hold on her temper as well, Brainz could see a light flare up behind her eye for just a moment.

“NO, IT’S **_NOT!!!_ ** THIS IS OUR **_FUCKING_ ** LIFE, YOU STUCK UP: **_PRICK!!_ ** THIS IS EVERYTHING WE KNOW, THIS IS OUR HOPES AND DREAMS… EVERY WISH WE EVER MADE, don’t you _DARE_ call it **_BULLSHIT…_ ** don’t you _DARE,_ after all the damage you’ve caused!... y’know what?-”

She roared at him and lashed out fiercely.

“IT’S **_YOU!!!_ **

**_YOU_ ** ARE BULLSHIT!!!

The people fucking OFFERED YOU, THE ANSWERS: AND YOU JUST **PUNISHED** THEM FOR IT: ONLY TO _KILL_ AN OLD MAN FOR THE ANSWERS YOU **SHUT DOWN-”**

 

She hunched down into herself, straining and burying her head into her arms: only to jump out with the loudest she could ever yell: it shook the stalactites above.

“- **_**IDIOT!!!!!!!!***”_ **

 

She yelled indiscernible noises, a frustrated cry: but recovered from it: returning back to that brooding calm tone, intermittent with strained pants.  She shook her head slowly, a hard voice came out.

“As if you fucking deserve them anymore… like they’ll do us any good now…

 

You see us all as enemies… that’s all we are to you… but the ones who truly weren’t… that actually tried to help. You hurt them too… the innocent ones…. **The children.”**

 

As Brainz couldn’t think of anything to say… Undyne looked to him with the most abject expression he’d ever witnessed. It looked like hurt betrayal… genuinely wounded… he could see the yellow behind her lips: quivering,

 

“What did he ever do you???

**And what did you do to him???-”**

 

She wasn’t bringing up Gerson again: this was an entirely new grievance: sounding hurt and deeply wounded.

“- Papyrus only wanted to help you… and you’ve practically sent him to his deathbed-”

 

That was unexpected, not the nature of what she was saying: Brainz wouldn’t believe that the screaming skeleton back in the snowworld wanted to “help” him. But he was more wrapped up around the fact he did more damage than anticipated: they sure didn’t show _mortal damage_ after taking that shotgun point blank. All brainz could remember was the scared childlike tone… begging him to wait there as he ran off.

 

“- you know… even when you savagely wounded him like that… even as he could barely walk on his own two feet… he didn’t care about himself: he was concerned all about you… leaving you out in the cold like that: he didn’t want you be alone… we had to restrain him: to keep him from trying to go out and get you… it wasn’t even that hard because of how weak he was… he put you before himself: even after what you did...”

 

Again… it seemed really unlikely to him: nothing was making sense right now: Brainz was almost drowning in it, he couldn’t say anything to save his life. Undyne snickered cynically to herself for a moment, then muttered something.

“You think we deserve all of this, I've heard you before: you think _every_ one of us... deserves to suffer… _well,_ maybe I do… God knows I’ve made my own sins…”

 

To Brainz again: with the most direct and catechizing expression: something she needed to ask him, perhaps the most important question ever asked. There was no threat in this: just a morbid desire to know… she almost pleaded with him.

 

“-But what about the kids? Do the _children_ deserve this? Do _they_ deserve to suffer? Have you any mercy inside of you? Even the tiniest sliver… just to spare them from this torment?”

 

Brainz began to shake his head, not as a definitive answer to her… he just didn’t want to believe what he was hearing… why would she bring children into this? It couldn’t be, they couldn’t be...

he didn’t want to consider it all… he _wouldn’t._ It couldn’t be… he refused to acknowledge it… and his head shook indefinitely.

_No…_

 

Undyne saw it all… what did she expect? This man before her wouldn’t have the capacity to consider anything but himself… it all had to be thrown into his face: and she had one laden fact to go on.

“No... no you don't....That child… they came to me earlier… crying: I went to embrace them… and they shrank away from me... -”

 

He knew exactly which child she was talking about, the one he had “opened their eyes” and robbed them of their innocence… a mortal sin: Undyne was reminding him of what he did…down to the very last detail.

 

“-It broke my heart... this hopeful young monster: who's looked up to me so much in the past, for hope...  they looked at me… like I was some: _savage_ beast, some amoral killer… the _things_ they asked me, I could never imagine to come out from such an innocent face… not them..."

 

Her voice lowered down to a low rattle as the gaze sought to pierce right through him.

 

“I knew it was **_you_ ** talking through them… your lies and false hopes… you invaded their head, twisted it into something you could exploit and _manipulate:_ all just to cover your cowardice, you brought an undeserving innocent child into this _… but_  do you want to know what the worst part of it all, was?”

 

It was a rhetorical question, she wasn’t going to give Brainz the luxury of choice, he didn’t deserve it.

 

“I couldn’t tell them the truth… not about you…  _I_ couldn't do the one thing that would save them from what you've wrought. Because I knew their heart couldn’t take it: no sooner would I show them what you _really_ are, would they fall down right before me… and it’s all my fault: I should’ve killed you when I had the chance. And because I didn't...you’ve brought nothing but ruination… you are _nothing_ but destruction...”

 

She had clenched her razor like claws, looking into them dutifully… she opened them up again and let out a mournful sigh…

“I _HATE_ this job… all of this death…but its my duty: I'm a soldier for the people who count on me. it doesn't mean I like it... it doesn't mean I don't have nightmares about it.... but do you know what?-”

 

She looked back up to Brainz, with a determined stare… and dire lust in her voice.

“- I’m going to * ** _LOOVE *_** ending you… -”

 

Her fists created gestures, showcasing her desires.

“- from when I **_STRIKE_ ** you down where you stand… to where I can feel you choke out your last, _taken_ breath from the world… I’m going to

**_LOVE_ **

**_EVERY_ **

**_LAST_ **

**_MOMENT_  ** **_OF IT…”_ **

 

Brainz took it all in, the words went right into him: there was nothing to confuse, nothing up for ambiguity. He knew what was going to happen now… there would be no begging, no bribes: two killers: they both knew how this was going to end: in pain and suffering. He slowly brandished the bat: for its first… perhaps its last use… he cracked all of his crooked knuckles and prepared his stance… he confirmed what would happen next with a flat question: no emotion… it was all objective now.

“I guess we’re doing this shit, then.”

 

Undyne nodded at him: the only thing they could agree on. A small flash was pulled from between her claws: extending the light into the signature weapon manifested from nothing. She gripped it tightly with both arms and rolled her head around to a similar percussion of cracked joints.

“Yhup… and you know what else? I’ve already seen into you… we can’t even _USE_ you… but that’s fine… I just want to _FINISH_ you.”

 

An ominous wind carried the premonition through both of them: only one of them was going to walk away from this. Dust would fly… and blood would spill… Brainz couldn’t win this… but he could damn well ensure: **none of them would either.** One way or the other: LOVE was in the air.

“Your move… **motherfucker.”**

 

**[You refused to die...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbIa49eIWoM) **

 

****


	22. Unyielding Animosity

 

[Battle against a True Hero](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qI1wODVRXo)

There it was again… the moment where time couldn’t keep up: pausing as it fell to its knees. Everything stopped; the sound of wind howling through the caverns, the heart pounding its determined cadence unwilling to stop, and especially the talk… the time for that was long gone. They both knew what was coming next, when the world would start up again: they would be the only things that existed in it, at least to each other: nothing else mattered. 

 

A gleam of vengeful cerulean thrust itself into existence, it attached itself to the hero’s grip… and before the bad guy would know it: it was careening straight towards him. There was no running from what was wrought: but Brainz refused to take it head on… he dashed to the side just as Undyne sought to impale him: leading her to crash into the wall with a thunderous impact.

 

The recorder flower was the only casualty of this move, its blue radiance removed as it crumpled to the ground in a heap of dust. 

 

**_*CRASH!*_ **

 

The force of what tried to stop her from recovering boomed through the world. The weaponized bat was swung into the back of the stopped hero, colliding with her armor giving a brilliant flash of sparks as it rebounded off the surface. Brainz tried it again and again: meeting similar outcomes as the modifications he created failed to meet their fantasies, the damage wasn’t done. The only exposed part of her, had already gained the foot it had over Brainz when she spun around: striking him across his cheek with the dull end of the spear. 

Brainz recoiled with a pained grunt, feeling the bruise seeping into his skin. He backed away, holding his weapon: both going into the defensive role. He looked up to the towering beast facing him down: watching as her one exposed claw drew itself across her striated neck. An assumed premonition for what would await him… the spear in the gauntlet was then hurled right at him. 

 

**Miss.**

He threw himself to his left: minding the narrow width he had.

 

But another one was already on its way for him: this time for his head.

 

**Miss.** **  
** Brainz threw his legs out from under himself and caught his fall with a crouch, he couldn’t even recoil from it when the next spear was heading his way.

 

**Blocked.**

Only partially: the killing edge of the thing nicked his weapon, thrown off from the course it made directly to his heart, but the momentum wouldn’t stop until it cut the surface of the purple leather: barely scratching at the flesh underneath it, but hurting like it’d cut right to bone.    
  


“ _ AGgh!” _ __   
  


He lost his footing even ducked down: and toppled from the trauma, putting him into mortal danger, a sign of weakness… and invitation for  _ her  _ to run up to him. Undyne charged up to his crouched pose and kicked him over to the ground raising another spear up to strike him down as he lay there. 

 

Brainz looked straight up at death, right into its cyan soul carried by the harbinger herself. Undyne thrust the spear down at him with all her might. 

 

**_MISS._ **

**_A miss._ **

**_And another miss._ **

 

Brainz evasively rolled, barely avoiding each killing blow, despite all of his items pushing against him as he shifted around the ground: writhing to survive. Undyne already figured what to do: and stomped one of her metal boots right onto Brainz’s stolen jacket. She readied the next spear and tried to force it right between his eyes, leaning all of herself into it. 

 

**_*CHkKING!*_ **

 

Her attack was averted just inches from Brainz’s face: he swung his weapon right into the blue and struck it off course again: sending it right into the ground just avoiding his neck. The deviation took the balance away from Undyne as she bent over from leaning on the attack, supporting herself on the missed spear… bringing her head so close to Brainz. Close enough to see the individual scales composing it, the gleaming in her yellow eye, and the open gills right under… right on her neck and right where Brainz could reach them.

 

She didn’t get a chance to recover, Brainz brought out the malice from his pocket and no sooner did he notice the gills… did he stab Undyne right into the red on her neck: right into her gills with the flathead screwdriver… just barely below piercing it all the way through her throat. As she cringed from it, focusing just off of him: The pink knuckles were forced right under her mouth: a puncturing uppercut, the same kind of blow that ended Gerson. 

 

Her yell was stifled by a retching cough as she huddled into her arms onto the damages bestowed: Brainz was able to slide out from underneath the hacking beast. 

 

Undyne’s claw clutched the reddened handle sticking out of her neck: and with a painful snarl: it was pulled out, followed by her life saving gasp for air, panting afterwards and still clutching the holes below her head. She didn’t hold onto this wounded pose for long and got right back to her feet, unwilling to give the bad guy any satisfaction that he harmed her. She snorted defiantly: booming her voice.

“You’re going to have to try  **_A LOT_ ** harder-”

 

The blunt head of Brainz’s bat was thrusted into her exposed abdomen, bashing the wind and pride out from her. Undyne suppressed a wretch as she doubled over, failing to look up to Brainz as he brought the bat down right onto the back of her head: an overhead strike with murderous momentum.

 

**_*KR-AKK!*_ **

The sound of wood bashing her head resonated throughout the room, the sharp metal bits covering it dug right through her scalp, leaving jagged cuts and pockmarks festering the trauma. 

 

The booming sound of her metallic form slamming to ground followed right after. Her body was splayed out, priming her egg shaped head for the round of stomping done by a merciless boot from above. Brainz drove his foot down onto her head, driven by every sippet of anger and grief she’d given to him. 

 

It stopped far before Brainz could cave her head in: she refused to let it happen, before the third blow, Undyne forced her head up and snatched Brainz’s supporting leg with both of her claws, violently throwing it to send him down to the ground: falling onto his back and giving her the chance to get up.

 

It felt harder to do so this time: the throbbing in her head felt like the heaviest boulder sitting atop of her shoulders, it rocked side to side… making it difficult for her to look straight… it seeped into the wounds covering her head. But she couldn’t show this to him: she couldn’t give him any slack. Instead she forced that grin back onto her face and continued to speak in a spiteful tongue, despite the dizziness and the blurring vision.

“Nice try… but like I said: you’re going to have to try a LOT  **HARDER** than that!-”

 

Despite it all, despite the killing she incited in the volatile human daring to challenge her, she fumbled on another spear for a moment: twirled it and beckoned him daringly. 

“-  _ BRING IT ON, you bastard!!” _

 

It was too much, the stress: the frantic pounding in his chest signified it. His shaking limbs and dilating pupils, the hatred… he stomped it to the ground like the garbage it was, but it wasn’t enough. She was mocking him after everything she’d put him through… he felt the helplessness trying to consume him. 

_ NO _

 

Forcing his ailments aside: Brainz clenched his weapon with deathly strength and ran blindly forward, out of his own skin, only with a desire to destroy. He roared through his rasped throat, swinging madly for this horrible creature’s head. 

 

**_Block!_** ** _  
_****_Block!_**

**_Block!_ **

**_Block!_ **

 

She knew what to do, taking his tactic into thought: Undyne was able to use her dominating stature and equipment against Brainz. Even in his torrent of rageful swings, he couldn’t strike her head nor the hole in her armor. Impeded by the cyan which beset upon him so many times in the past: or by her mail itself, showering him with blue or orange sparks. He tried and tried, frantically losing his momentum with each failed hit… each one earning the paranoid feel of the adverse smugness she must’ve had… she scoffed at him.

“Is that the  **_BEST_ ** you can do?!-”

 

On the yell, she turned the fight around: forcing Brainz to retaliate against stikes of her own: he backed away with each impact narrowly being caught on his weapon.

` “-without your little _tricks,_ this is all you **_GOT?!-”_**

 

Undyne continued to push Brainz backwards, increasing the ferocity in her blows… he wouldn’t be able to block all of them and some cut into his arms and flesh, each scoring pained grunts and and failing hold. She snarled and lifted her arm up for a finisher.

“-  **_PATHETIC!!”_ **

 

Her metal gauntlet swung right passed Brainz’s defense: striking him squarely on his face, sending him spiraling down to the ground. He held onto the damage, and Undyne watched as the red began to seep between his clenched fingers. She looked down and shook her head disappointed and disgusted.

“To think… this is what we’re afraid of…  _ pathetic…” _

 

Brainz couldn’t stand hearing that word any longer, how it always bore into his brain… drilling itself into his very subconscious. They all said it, everyone did… they never stopped. He had to kill it, it was the only way. 

 

With a surge in anger, clenched teeth and piercing eyes: Brainz forced himself away from the misery seeping out him, he slammed a fist to the ground: spattering it with his own blood. Then he secured his grip again on the blunt weapon and leapt up at her for a desperate retaliation… yelling all the way.

 

He would strike her six times… nothing would happen each time… his stand was defeated long before Undyne hit him again. Once more: sending him down to the ground with another gash appearing on his face… it dribbled onto the coveted jacket. Undyne only scoffed more at him.

“Why don’t you just give up already… in fact… I’m actually doing  **_YOU_ ** a favor of all people… if that’s all you got to yourself: then you won't even get  **_CLOSE_ ** to-”

 

The scornful banter turned into blurred ramblings, all muffled by the ringing screeching into his ears. The feeling of hopelessness was coming back, that nothing he would do could save him. He had lost so much already, and even if he still had his firearms… it wasn’t like they did anything to her in the first place. What good would this primitive club do? He already saw it wasn’t even going to dent the armor. It was hopeless… just like the night before he fell… 

 

It was starting to come clear, he could hear the sirens crescendoing on him, the sound of dogs and pattering feet… all he did was run… and all he could do….

 

Brainz got back to his feet once more, and ran away.

 

**_“HEY!!!_ ** Get  **_back_ ** here, you little  **_FUCK!!!”_ **

* * *

 

He could hear the fury coming out of her as he sprinted, and the sound of stamping metal: pursuing after him… he really  _ did  _ feel pathetic: after all that chest puffing and threats, promises to himself he would end her with one fell swing… and he was running away just like he always did. Heart pounding in his ears and airways turning into arid fire. 

 

He kicked up the knee high water, spraying everything in front with frantic splashes: with the lights on: he discovered a new path born from the darkness: lined with the fluorescent grass. He never considered crawling on this path: and only sprinted where he could see it… the rampaging sounds continued to chase him… while other forms of indistinct shouting followed. Some didn’t even sound like they were in english.

 

Up the path, through more water: passing recorder flowers he would never have the chance to listen to: a sign of red eyed text he was forced to ignore… ending with a turn onto the soulless corridor of rock. There was no plan here: except the everlasting desire to get away. 

 

_ Deja Vu… _

 

It was all coming into fruition now: the eerie feeling everything was happening in a circle, that he never truly escaped Undyne to begin with: marked by the familiar environment of a slim boardwalk atop a chasm leading to nothingness… another wooden bridge: another hapless pursuit. It was all happening again… just like the last two encounters. All that was missing was something serving to condemn him, so that she would catch up. That’s when Brainz tripped on an askew plank of wood.

 

**_“FUCK!!”_ **

In that one juncture he was brought to a tumbling halt as he slammed down onto the narrow path. It all stopped again, the world seemed to pause with his momentum as he lay there… brought into a moment of realized introspection. 

 

Here he lay, in a heap of himself… brought here by his own consequences while they crawled for him from just behind. He never would’ve evaded them, and they couldn’t be beaten… all he could do was let them lash at him, tearing bloody chunks from him until there would be nothing left. He would lose another piece of himself just to get ahead of them… to that next clearing in the thicket… just for it all to happen again.

 

He didn’t like thinking of it, in fact he’d try very hard not to. That overwhelming,  _ bleak  _ feeling that you weren’t getting anywhere no matter how far you ran, how hard you fought, how hard you tried to get away. It was all just a big circle, this was going to happen sooner or later: just like it had last time. Before he found himself in garbage water,  _ before  _ he stood off with this beast,  **_before_ ** he even fell down here in the first place… this was all the same.

 

It was all moot… nothing here truly mattered: the floors, the walls, the monsters… such as these abominations mystified and appalled him: they didn’t serve to change anything in the grand scheme. How this would turn out for him, was already predetermined… this was bound to happen regardless of how far they defied nature… how far they defied god. What only varied was how much could Brainz defy  _ them…  _ until the weight of his sins came crashing into him.

 

As he could hear the tumultuous footsteps careening towards him, on beat with the pulse hammering in his ears. He didn’t get up, it wouldn’t have done him any good: there was no way to escape it: he couldn’t run from his sins any longer. He was going to burn in hell… it occurred to him as he saw a fleeing pocket content rolling to the edge of the path, the round bottle stuffed with a rag… 

_`_ _Burn in hell…_

**_BURN._ **

 

“Look at you! Like I said….-”

 

She was already there, standing triumphantly just before Brainz’s sprawled out body, reluctant to flat out kill him there if only to deliver her final thoughts. Primed to impale him if he so much as tried anything. Undyne pointed the killing end of her spear down to Brainz and repeated herself with a stentorian sternness.

“- **_PATHETIC!!_ ** I see you for what you  _ really  _ are now… a  **_COWARD!!!-”_ **

 

The one trend with Undyne was even pushed to this point: she was monologuing again. It was the one damning flaw she had, as intimidating as she was: her pride. Brainz could recognize it as it had once set him up for a great fall in the past… he wasn’t liable to do much else except listen and wait for her to finish… to finish  _ him. _

“- you know, I’ve read the books about your kind… they made you all look so… so fascinating… so  _ awesome…  _ but I’m starting to think they may all be wrong… or-”

 

She was looking into the distance with the thought but caught herself and glared right back at Brainz… with condemning resolve. 

“- or that  **_you’re_ ** just not part of them…  _ whatever  _ you are… you... -”

 

She was going to finish with something quite profane, but she quivered at the near blank look Brainz was giving her… like this was just a normal day for him: no emotion at all. It sparked up something inside of her again and she swung the spear at Brainz, just missing his head by inches.

“- _ what kind of person only preys on the people who CAN’T or WON’T defend themselves?!?  _ And then, when somebody finally  **_DOES_ ** fight back, they  **_RUN AWAY_ ** just like that!!! 

What kind of  **_vile_ ** _ …  _ **_disgusting_ ** _ …  _ **_immoral_ ** _ …  _ **_GARBAGE…_ ** does that?! 

**_YOU DO!_ **

People like  **_YOU_ ** are the ones who belong down here… not US.” ****_  
  
_

Those accursed words had been used for him a long time ago, they weren’t new… he could almost hear the original voice in them as they pointed their venomous meanings at him. He had nothing to rebuke with, it was all true.

 

Undyne went to continue, the despair would have let her go on forever Brainz would’ve deserved every bit of it… but she also remembered: that he didn’t deserve to live, not even to witness the truth about him. She shook her head and reaffirmed the weapon just before him.

“But no… no more: I’m gonna end your little reign of terror… no more games, prepare to die…”

 

The spear was pulled back, ready to come forward and end him: but suddenly, the target forced himself up to a crawl and outstretched an impeding arm… shouting with all his body could give him into a raw yell.

“ **_NO!”_ **

 

It halted the execution… Undyne let it: she let  _ him,  _ halt it… in the worst of tactics, in the most trope like of standoffs: letting this immoral monster slowly stumble to his feet… she could’ve ended him at any time, but didn’t. The flair for drama kept this going. Brainz planted his feet where he stood and brandished his bat once again… fighting through the agony in him to address his adversary with such audacity. 

“You wanna end me so bad? I’m just  _ that  _ kind of horrible? Then why don’t we make this  **_FAIR…_ ** you take off that armor… fight me for real… you think you’re so good: you  _ pussy.”  _

He knew he had to try that, when he could almost  _ feel  _ the ego coming off of her: the only thing he felt that was keeping him alive at this point… keeping her from already ripping him to pieces. 

 

Undyne laughed incredulously, defiantly. 

“Are you SERIOUS, right now?! Like… you can  _ NOT  _ be serious! You’re calling  **_me_ ** a pussy?! 

Come…  _ ONNNNNN….  _ I really overestimated you… you’re  _ really  _ nothing without your little  **GUNS…** I was expecting something so much more… and you’re calling me a pussy… 

But you know what? I gave the last human a fighting chance, yeah… I did: I gave her one of my spears… so we could do this properly… she refused it….

But  _ you???  _ You don’t deserve a fair chance… not after what  _ you  _ did.” 

 

That was that, Undyne would promise herself that the time for talking was over… no more words. But it was already too late… because after that denial of hers… Brainz started giggling.

 

Deviantly snickering to himself, as he twitched… he looked up to her: that familiar rictus grin creeping to his ears… and with it: something to be said… held back to an enthusiastic whisper.

“I was  _ hoping  _ you’d say that…”

 

Before Undyne could even react… grimace at that damned face… Brainz’s arm burst out from behind the stolen jacket, hurling a flaming bottle right at her. There was no avoiding it, the molotov struck her dead on, and with the ear splitting sound of shattering glass…she burst into flames.

 

She sounded off with a loud agonizing yell, her weapon was dropped and it vanished into oblivion as she swung and thrashed mindlessly: provoked by the flames that had swallowed her whole. 

 

Brainz sat there and didn’t move… he had no desire to run away or intervene… he just wanted to watch. That fantasy of watching her thrash and scream was coming true: and he felt himself enjoying every moment of it: as she fell to the ground screaming in pain. It was so satisfying… it was  _ funny…  _ it made him laugh, he pointed at laughed at her. 

 

_ What the hell was this?  _ It wasn’t right! None of it was! How could he have manifested fire magic like this? And how could this possibly be fire magic? It wasn’t born from the heart… but out of malice: and it wasn’t made to create: it was made to  **_destroy._ ** She had no control over it, all she could do was feel it eating away at her as she tried desperately to snuff it. It wasn’t regular fire… and it wasn’t magic: it was killing intent… manifested as a blaze of red hellfire.

She fell to her knees as the flames took more and more away, they stuck to her outfit and wouldn’t let go, effectively cooking her from the inside out: aspiring to spread inside to cremate her heart. But she wasn’t going to let them.

 

Undyne pushed her resolve through the searing misery and began reaching into her armor: severing and breaking the bonds holding it together and holding her up to demise. She tore apart her own protection, throwing burning pieces of metal off into the chasm below, some clattering to the wooden bridge… infecting it with a similar fate as it caught. The last piece was tossed away: a dying light as it fell to the bottom of the earth, completely exposing the occupant to world as she tried to extinguish the beginnings of flames picking at her flesh….

 

Blue scaly flesh that reflected the haze of the inferno she was fighting, showing through the portions of what rags she had left, perforated by burn marks. A once proud attire, reduced to this smoldering husk.

 

She stood there, barely holding her footing: locked into a hunch as the heat slowly died down amidst wavering fumes of smoke and vaporized dust. There were no words, only a stare, bewildered, frightened,  _ angry.  _ The man who did this to her, stared right back: tossing and catching the last molotov of the trio he once had. 

 

Her bravery forced her to say something, but it wasn’t much for being coherent: a mess of confused and aggravated grunts occasionally turning into words.

“WHAT. EVEN…”

 

She grimaced and forced herself to break the stare with the human, inspecting her blanched body: and growling furiously when noticing the remainder of her once flowing hair. Now a singed black stump. 

“- **_NYEEAGH!”_ **

 

She clenched her exposed fists tightly, gritted through the pain: and with the return of the manifested blue spear, the fight was back on, a death charge towards the beast with red eyes. 

 

 

[Battle against a *REAL* Monster.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qI1wODVRXo)

 

She took no time to bring it back to close quarters, even down to a tank top and pants: Undyne rushed away from the flames settling behind and tried to impale Brainz.  What she earned instead was a frantic series of strikes and blocks. Anger and dizziness began to cloud her judgement and vision leading to desperate swings… swings that Brainz was having an easier time avoiding it seemed. 

 

Too many times, the weapons clashed against each other, each with deafening percussion and blue sparks to bits of metal breaking off.  

 

**  
****_“AaUgh!”_**

A loud cry burst from her, as the failure to impede the bat swinging for her was realized far too late as the jagged metal and points dug into her shoulder. Brainz gripped it and tore the weapon out: tearing away scales and emitting a cloud of dust as it left jagged holes in her. 

 

Undyne lost her focus on fighting and instinctively tried to hold the damage, she couldn’t deny the impulse: and already knew when she did that she was going to take another hit. 

**_*KRU-NCHH*_ **

 

Right to her head, she doubled over just enough for Brainz to hit her right in her face. She spiraled down from the impact, her weapon clattered to the ground as the other hand tried to shield her from any more trauma. But no, it wasn’t going down like this, Undyne opened her eye through the dust and saw the bat held high above Brainz’s shoulders: ready to smite her from the ground. 

The opening was her only chance, and she quickly lunged a spear right into Brainz’s open torso: scoring a direct hit into his chest, it sounded with a much less audible  **_*crack!*_ ** two of them, he could feel them fracturing inside of him.

Outside though, it failed to cut into him: his belt doubling as a holster sacrificed itself. The worn leather took most of the blow and separated. All that work and he barely got any use out of it: that was sure to piss him off as the belt slid off of him.

  
  


He fell back, huddling into himself: and she jumped up to her feet, on the offensive. She didn’t even care about the blood she was spilling on the coat.

 

It was his turn to take punishment now, unable to stand straight or even breath properly: he began losing his own balance as the blows received pushed him back in his steps. Blue death, ferociously retaliating on him. He began to fail as well.

 

A hard blow, right to his forearm: the bruise would reach to his elbow.

 

The spear, sliding off of his weapon: sawing into his hip and puncturing it, warm red beginning to stain his jeans from inside. 

 

A forceful stab just barely deviating from destroying his jugular, instead nicking his shoulder and neck, the red began to run all over. 

 

This wouldn’t stop, they would take every exoptable advantage they could and press it: violently thrashing the momentum in the battle away from each other and scoring increasingly painful and messy injuries. All without words, only grunts and sounds of increasingly determined efforts. Brainz fought back, even as breathing turned to agony.

 

**_A spear sliced a “Z” shaped laceration into his GOOD shoulder._ **

 

**_She tried to catch the business end of the bat with her hand, the nails went right through it._ **

 

**_The momentum of their struggle, saw his own weapon hit him in his face, carving up his chin._ **

 

**_Brainz pulled out his carpenter’s knife and lunged into her, stabbing her in her stomach three times before she could retaliate: his hands were covered in red dust._ **

 

**_Undyne swung low, Brainz tried to go lower: she sliced his knee open… down to the fat._ **

  
  


Everything, from the combatants to the ground they fought on became a mess of red and dust, and with no visible intention to stop in either of them: it was only going to worsen as the number injuries, each more grizzly than the last continued to climb. It continued as Undyne brought Brainz down to a crouch and tried to chop him down the middle, he impeded the swing, barring it with his splintering weapon. They struggled on it: each unwilling to give in to the mighty opposition as the weapons clashed into each other.

 

They held, while the marriage of blue magic and red wood shifted back and forth as each received their full efforts. The resistance infuriated Undyne, like she never could’ve foreseen it… such an impedance should’ve been impossible… yet here she was,  _ failing.  _ The thought of it turned into more rage, she pushed it into the scuffle… Brainz refused to let it win anything. His arms locked into place, mounds of dirt built behind his planted boots. Slow and excruciating inches were all he gave as his entire being grind backwards lest he release the hold. 

 

The veins on what visible flesh he showed were at full mast: throbbing angrily as streaks of his own sweat streaked against his grimy skin. A low, guttural grunt persisted from him: intertwined with the grating sound his teeth made as they ground against each other. Undyne was emitting similar noises, they grew into strained words eventually as the frustration reached its climax.

“ **_why... won’t…. You….  DIE ALREADY??!!”_ **

 

Brainz’s joints cracked, bones shifting over each other: the loud procession of pops. His eyes clenched closed as he funneled all of his strength and energy into resisting. The question jolted into his brain, and in the synapse where it occurred to him: this resistance turned into full blown defiance… everything he stood for. It cleared his mind…and for once in his meager existence down here:  _ he knew exactly the answer _ . 

 

His eyes shot open, unnoticeably bloodshot, he rasped his cause with all the fury coursing through.

“Because…. I’m...   _ actually.  _ **_DETERMINED…. Determined…_ ** to….  **_*LIVE!!!!*”_ **

 

Brainz put all of his accentuation into the last word, and following it was an effortful yell and a surge of desperate force from him, dramatically more than he had ever mustered. More than Undyne could ever handle… the standoff was lost for her almost immediately as Brainz broke the hold… and turned it around just as fast, as Undyne couldn’t recover fast enough. 

 

From the ground, Brainz sent a boot under his undamaged knee: into one of hers, ending its balance and putting her into a downwards shift: Brainz got up and spared no time in swinging his bat like a golf club, smacking her right into her face with enough force to spin someone’s head like a rotor. 

 

He advanced on her as she was knocked back and helpless to take another hit in the sudden daze. Brainz reared the weapon again and again. Stroking her with increasing viciousness, spraying the air with red dust as more cuts appeared and more scales broke off. The last blow would be realized from his own climbing fatigue and following it: he grabbed and kicked her onto the burning bridge, just shy of feeding her to the advancing flames: still eating at the very wood that kept her from succumbing to the very fate she inflicted on Brainz. 

 

He watched her as he caught his breath and took in the damage done. She tried to crawl away: a small retreat to get some distance, only to have to abort it: realizing the intense heat from behind that illuminated it all: casting grim shadows on the cavern’s walls. It would be all over her if she didn’t move back… back to the man that damaged her like this.

 

He watched her as she lay, injured and momentarily defeated, a crumpled figure of prejudice: laying in a heap of her own pride. How did it feel to be the one looking down on it this time? While he felt like collapsing right here and right now from the unbearable strain on him, he couldn’t remember the last time he felt so happy. Happy watching her writhe and shudder from the pain. She deserved it,  _ they all did.  _ **_Just desserts._ ** It felt so  _ good  _ not being the victim, it begged him to do this,  _ all  _ the time: like he used to. He made his victims, before they could make him into one. 

 

Undyne had to get to her knees, feeling the heat of urgency burning closer from behind, she herself felt the brink of collapse only pushed away by determination. It couldn’t end like this, not when she could feel everyone’s hearts beating as one. She couldn’t let everyone down… she couldn’t let  _ him  _ win. 

 

Brainz saw the effort as she tried to get up, but something else looked like it wanted to happen. The epicenter of the damage he inflicted on her, her head: put up an anomalous show. It began to wane, almost as if it was losing form. Like she was about to fall apart, a faltering sand castle in the wind. Once standing for something grand, now spread into nothingness by the gust of wind sought to bring chaos into the world. 

 

Whatever it was, she took notice to it as well and stopped it, holding a claw up to the damage and muttering something to herself. Pushing herself back together and reaffirming her focus on Brainz… forgetting she wanted to look hateful, looking like a wounded dog. 

 

The sight stopped amusing him now, in fact: he was already sick of seeing himself from the outside. Through the wheezing and rasping, bloodloss too: Brainz looked down on her… some words to be said.

“And you called  _ me  _ **pathetic…** _ look at you…”  _

He stepped closer to her, close enough he could just feel the heat radiating off the bridge, it must’ve been blanching from how close she was. He continued to speaking condescendingly to her, bringing her lower than the ground.

“What… not saying anything now? What’s the matter? You were talking all that  **_good_ ** shit a minute ago, then I threw your ass to the ground, like the garbage you are… yeah: you’re garbage, and that’s all you’ll  _ ever _ be.”

 

She refused to say anything, only acknowledging him by panting more erratically as she held onto the damage… it just sickened Brainz to see it, how this all turned out. He made his own erratic movements, his temper was unstable. Like he was primed to lunge right into her, into the flames. Flaring out on some words, barely controlling himself.

“Yeah, that’s what this is…  **_WHAT._ ** What did you think you had with me? Some kind of little demented story for you to  ***ACT*?** Your little  **FAIRYTALE?!”**

  
The outburst made him drop his weapon, as his bloodied hands rushed to cover his face, hold in the deranged laughter. His teeth couldn’t clench themselves any tighter. Despite the trauma to his knee, as the life ran from it: he began to pace furiously… never uncovering his face: never quite free from laughing.

“With a hero, and a monster… and then… then it  _ alll  _ wraps up with a pretty red ribbon at the end! And they  **_ALL_ ** live  **HAPPILY. EVER. AFTER.”**

 

He convulsed with laughter, like he’d just witnessed the funniest,  most enraging  thing he’d ever seen. As much “fun” as it seemed he was having at her expense, lest she move: Brainz suddenly roared, bristling with anger. 

“ **OPEN YOUR EYES.”**

 

Brainz grimaced and wiped some of the red leaking out of his shoulder, flicking the bright droplets at her, then pointing angrily: at himself and her: whenever the context suited. The flames gave his figure a menacing shadow: it danced its erratic motions on the walls. 

“ **_You’re not a HERO, you’re just some deluded WHORE trying to convince yourself otherwise._ **

**_There are no such things as HEROS; no matter WHAT you do, you’ll always be the BAD GUY to someone._ **

 

**_The harder you TRY, the more you’re going to FUCK UP._ **

**_You put your soul into it? And next thing you know, *EVERYBODY FUCKING HATES YOU*_ **

 

**_YOU. ARE NOT. A HERO._ **

**_You’re just like your stupid shows and goddamned jap *SHIT*,_ **

**_YOU DON’T REALLY EXIST-”_ **

 

He couldn’t stop the words tumbling from him, they only became more ferocious: gaining frantic traction. He spat and stuttered, flailing back and forth like a gargantuan machine breaking down in a torrent of black smoke. Loud and frightening, you couldn’t stop the beast: nothing could. 

“-  _ It’s all a  _ **_LIE!!_ ** ****_  
  
_

_ THERE  _ **_ARE_ ** _ NO HEROES _

_ THERE  _ **_ARE_ ** _ NO VILLAINS _

_ THERE ARE  _ **_NO_ ** _ SUCH THINGS AS “HAPPY ENDINGS! _

 

IN  _ THIS  _ WORLD?!

**It’s KILL or BE KILLED!!”**

 

Whether it was the gesture as he jumped forward and lashed his arms to the sides, or something he said. But Undyne flinched into a state of implied shock, eye wide open: face disturbed on an unforeseeable level. 

 

But Brainz didn’t notice: or maybe he did and it only fueled him more to break her spirits. It wasn’t enough what he’d done: he wanted to  _ hurt  _ her. He wanted  _ more  _ than that, so much more. 

 

He spat another gob of bloody mucus, and remembered something: reaching into one of his pockets with his grimy, slimy hand. Bringing a partially soiled piece of paper into the orange glare and holding it up for Undyne to see. The handwriting on it was all pretty curves and heart dotted I’s.

 

She knew exactly what it was, and he knew that she would. He could almost see her heart plummeting, it made him grin maliciously: he shook it at her.

“Know what this is, don’cha?-”

 

The anguish on her face told him everything, he was way behind enemy lines with this attack. Hitting where it was going to  _ hurt. _

“- haha  _ Yeeaaaah…  _ I gotta admit, this made me cringe a fair bit: but now that I think about it… I pity you…  _ hell,  _ I pity this “Dr Alphys” a little bit more.” 

 

What he did next would have unforeseen consequences. With a discarding scoff, Brainz released his grip on the damp paper, dooming it as it fell into the darkness below. Undyne made a quick attempt to catch it from her position, sounding it off with a shocked outburst.

“ _ NO!”  _

 

But it was gone, she watched it vanish: growing farther and farther apart from her perforated claw, she stared into the abyss below for such a long time: paused…. At least while the fury reached the brink of the well. 

Brainz only smirked at the display, he was already over this entire fight and was ready to end it. Reaching into his coat for the tool to do so and paying little attention to the downed heroine. 

“With how this day is going, I’m gonna end up dropping in and saying “ **_hello”_ ** to them anyway, so don’t you worry bout it-”

 

Suddenly, an incandescent scream rang from the bridge.

“YOU LEAVE HER OUT OF  **_THIIIS!!!”_ **

 

There was no time to react, she slammed onto her feet in the midst of the warcry, her eye flared: brighter than the flames of malice. The spears came, the largest manifestation Brainz had ever seen. A hail of blue charging for him. 

 

With the makeshift flamethrower already in his hand, Brainz pressed down on the nozzle and released the flames inside, a steady stream of fire to blanket the world between them. He dodged and ducked as the blue energy shot out from behind the wall of fire. 

 

They pitted all of their might against each other once more, Brainz set the inferno onto her, and Undyne blindly, rapidly: hurled spears into the fire, screaming indistinctly. None of them would strike the human, and alternatively: his flames wouldn’t reach the monster enough to cause any severe damage: none of them gained any headway and it was all just a game to see who could hold out longer. Brainz would run out of fuel long before Undyne would ever stop… then it would be easy to skewer him. 

Taken back by this violent second wind, he knew he had to do something, as he flinched and narrowly avoided the projectiles. Holding the depleting container of bought time out, Brainz snatched his “desperate man’s” grenade, his last molotov cocktail, his only chance. He blanched his hand, holding it up to the stream, immolating the rag and seeing the flames creep inside. He threw it as hard as he could into the fleeting cover as the stream died. 

 

That’s when the spear that would’ve hit him right in the heart collided with the bottle, a feat more unlikely than hitting him. The outcome was far more brilliant. 

 

The forces collided with each other, the bottle burst from the spear and a flame of immense size and power flowered into existence. The explosion was far larger than any physical force could achieve with such reagents, the power was so intense that it gave off a torrent of rose red and lapis blue fire, the spear was destroyed in the blast and its fragments spread everywhere like glittering shrapnel. 

 

The wave of heat was like a slab of burning concrete crashing into him, Brainz was pushed back: nearly down onto his. He would’ve been able to recover, but out of the settling flames and smoke: another furious yell careened towards him. Undyne, smoldering and charred: lunged right into him like a panther. 

 

She took him down onto the ground, born from the flames of hatred: There were no tactics or strategies to this. Nothing but a storm of profanities and hysterical yells as she clawed relentlessly at Brainz’s mug, tears steaming off of her heated flesh. Never could a more obvious display of her desperation be shown, it took her back a long way. The feeling of hopelessness and despair, no matter how hard you tried: it had already beaten you. She just couldn’t take it anymore, and wouldn’t stop until there was nothing left. 

 

Brainz struggled and thrashed, feeling the holes ripping into his skin: the energy was chaotic: and the reception was sickeningly ironic. He’d wanted to bring this proud figure down to hell with him, and he’d done just that:  reducing her to a raging, snarling animal. One act of irony would deserve another though, and in the moment: Brainz thought of what to do even as the trauma flowed. 

 

As one arm tried to push her away and save his eyes from being clawed out: another one dove into his pocket, this time for something he’d never consider using, not like this.

 

In a display of higher irony: Brainz repurposed the suicide gun with its single .45 Caliber round: into the tool to keep him living… he shoved the barrel right into Undyne’s chest and pulled the trigger. 

* * *

 

The dust puffed out from the clean hole bore into her, smaller than what the shotgun accomplished but with all the same ferocity… with the force inexplicably throwing her back as if he’d struck her with the blunt side of a car. 

Brainz pushed himself to get up again, even as he could feel the red waterfalling down his face: the lacerations reached a dozen. The blood loss was tremendous, the floor was a mess of red splotches and drops, and his clothes were all but damp with his wasted life. He got up and ignored everything about himself, tensing back into readiness: for he knew despite the show, despite the damage he inflicted, despite how much he wanted her dead. She would get up again.

 

She did, it took longer than Brainz expected: and she struggled with doing so, looking like if she fell down again: it would be the last time. It was the same for both of them: their stances were slouched from exhaustion, their forms were plagued with weakness. Any fantasy of desire was destroyed: both of them were torn, fed up, and discouraged. There was no winning this, it was down to who would lose first.

 

Undyne stumbled forward, trying to contain the hole in her. Red dust cascaded out from the injury, sifting through her blood soaked claws. But she persisted, limping back into the fight. Her arm held itself boldly into the air: a gesture of her refusal to give up… her form torn and mangled but her spirits still alive. Her signature weapon would manifest itself and be thrown at the wounded adversary, a poetic display. But it didn’t happen.

 

She held that pose for longer than the sentiments it brought would last. Her battered face squinted more and more, Brainz only watched as it became awkward, but in his mind: he knew what was happening.  _ She was trying to create her weapon, but she couldn’t.  _ Not only did he know this, he knew  _ why.  _ He knew exactly why, especially as she swayed back and forth: barely clinging onto her frail balance. The damage was beginning to set in, an acute concussion served from the curb stomping. Her prowess was slipping, and for once: Brainz could take her.

 

When she dishearteningly realized she wasn’t going to arm herself, Undyne was forced to make due with what she had left and shook herself violently, then she brought up her claws.

 

Brainz would’ve had the advantage in his equipment, but just couldn’t fathom it. The “Sadist’s Bat” wasn’t quite sadistic for his tastes. He only assured himself further seeing how Undyne could barely stand let alone engage in hand to hand combat. For that, a special punishment was coming. 

 

The smoking gun was cast to the ground alongside the dropped bat, then Brainz undid the jacket from himself and tossed it as well. It was far too late to save it from the damage done; the rips, tears, and fluids spilled. This action was all for him, he even undid the sweater underneath: tossing the ratty ball of fabric aside as well: leaving nothing but his “anything but white” undershirt: forearms and tattoos were brought to the light… a subtle clue for Undyne, that she was dealing with something far outside of her comprehension. The visions of violence and beasts stained onto his tattered flesh openly threatened her. 

To put this all into fruition, Brainz rolled his neck and cracked his knuckles: clenching his hands into their respective fists: the pink knuckle daggers were firmly gripped, after all: he didn’t want this fight to be  _ too  _ fair. 

 

She only had one thing to say before they’d go at it again, tiredly wheezing it.

“You think…  _ you’re  _ so…  _ Determined?...  _

Bring it on…. I can… I can do this  _ all day.” _

  
  
  


This wasn’t even a fight anymore…

 

It was painfully obvious… that bullet… perhaps even everything Brainz had inflicted on her… they were taking their toll. 

 

Undyne's abilities were shot, her reflexes were severely retarded, and the coordination to control them didn’t exist anymore: it became apparent when she “tried” to take his blows: she wasn’t even close to protecting herself as Brainz hit her squarely with a haymaker, and shoved her down to the ground… he watched as she feebly got back up and tried to strike him. It was the weakest punch she had ever thrown and it wouldn’t have even hit him… if he didn’t grab it and yank Undyne into another punch… casting her down.

This wasn’t a fight anymore… it was a  **beating.**

 

But no matter how many times he pushed her down, no matter how much harm he caused: she  _ always  _ got up. Slower and weaker every time: but she still did. Her body was giving out on her: but her spirit refused to give up… she  _ refused.  _

[I will not stand down...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qI1wODVRXo)

“S-see... ?-”

 

She painfully held herself up on all fours, spitting out dust: trembling and stuttering… but not stopping.

“- see w-what we c-can dd-d--do? We can-nnn _ n- _ nuh be de-t-t-termind-duh  _ t-too!” _

 

**_Brainz grabbed her when she got up and bludgeoned her in the face seven times, she fell down. His attacks became faster._ **

 

Undyne slurred and words, quivering… while pushing herself from the floor.

“M-m-mm-uih- _ monsters…  _ can be  _ determined…   _ Tttt-oo!” 

 

**_She threw a pathetic punch at him, she fell on her own accord when she missed. Brainz stomped on her three times, and finished it by kicking her in her side. His attacks became faster._ **

She coughed raggedly and fell over the first two times she tried moving: her voice was beginning to break, Brainz could hear stifled sobs and sniffles… but she still sounded as proud as ever, and never stopped smiling at him… the one thing that she knew pissed him off.

“Yuh-.. _ you’ll  _ nn-nnne-vurrr… k-ckh-kill us…  _ nevevvver!-” _

 

**_Brainz’s attacks became unfair. He drove his fists into her gut,  then into her neck as she doubled over, he spared her from falling and held her head up… to deliver a headbutt that resonated in the room. He split his forehead open, and put a crack into hers._ ** ****_  
  
_

Undyne began to fade again, the impediments to her chant worsened with her condition, but she still persisted.

“I’ll…  _ N-ever! D-dddie!  _

_ I’ll… Live… Onnn.. _

_ K-kk-king Asgore… will… L-live.. _

_ WE…. WILLL….. L-lLLIVE… ON!!!”  _

 

**_Brainz didn’t even let her get up,  he kicked her while she was down and wouldn’t relent until the 17th kick._ **

 

“King Asgore” He should’ve known… all he could feel was blind rage, he took it all out on her… as she still kept it up: wearing that stupid grin on her face. Even as her face would becoming unrecognizable, She just didn’t have the humility to lose… she wouldn’t let him win. 

Undyne was barely moving at this point, twitching and struggling like a dying insect awaiting the demise of a gigantic boot. Brainz lost his temper, and went for the weapon. He didn’t care about it anymore, nothing else  _ mattered  _ right now, he just wanted her to  **stop.**

 

Brainz took his breaths and got to it  _ slowly,  _ there was nothing Undyne could do at this point: she’d already lost even though the fight wasn’t over yet. But with his back turned to her sprawled out form, he couldn’t see that the grin on her tenderized face was dropped, following a gasp: croaking out of her. 

 

When he came back slapping the bat into his open hand, Undyne tried to stop it by outstretching a claw. 

“W-wait…” 

She'd seen something, something leagues above this fray they were having. Something so important, that this battle needed to stop.

 

The request fell to deaf ears as Brainz held the weapon above his head, gripping it with both hands, she forced herself to try again: sounding more like a plea… more urgent and desperate.

“ _ W-waiiit!”  _

 

She was left without mercy as Brainz brought the bat down upon her, striking her with rapid chopping swings, that  **_*KRUNCHED*_ ** against her exposed torso. Beating the wind and wrenching the life from her, each swing threw up clumps of dust as they fell through the air like fountain fireworks. She convulsed with every hit, he could  _ hear  _ her gagging on the trauma. 

_ This  _ was what he wanted, watching her suffer. How much she wanted it to stop, she had no control. Swing by swing she would writhe, until the last one… this one: as Brainz held the weapon high above his head…  _ this  _ was going to be the one. He envisioned this hit would be the one that split her head like a melon… or more appropriately,  **an egg.**

 

**“I… said…** **_WAIT!!-”_ **

* * *

 

The sound it made… was more  **_RAW_ ** than anything, like a pig carcass hitting the slaughter room floor. He almost felt a  **_*pop!*_ ** when it happened… and just as his senses screamed at him, Brainz looked down and witnessed the sight. 

 

Undyne’s ambiguously red boot was firmly planted between his legs, she sent it into his groin with all of her remaining might, scoring a direct hit on his testicles. She stayed where she lay and her leg fell back to the ground, she watched as Brainz had completely aborted his move. He wasn’t even  _ able  _ to move. His potential murder weapon slipped out from his twitching fingers and filled the silent room with a resonating clatter.

 

Suddenly, just barely hitting the range of being audible: Brainz emitted a noise not dissimilar to a tea kettle whistling from the back of his throat.  His limbs buckled into his gut with excruciatingly slow delay, and when he was completely doubled and hunched over where he couldn’t curl up any further: he toppled over, falling atop of his discard coat. The noise he was consistently making sounded like he had air leaking out of him.  

 

Despite the brutal punishment, and the grave weakness she felt: Undyne was able to defy Brainz once more, employing the help of a wall to stand herself up. She even found she still had the ability to smirk at Brainz’s feeble gasps on the ground. She muttered to herself, only getting a whisper.

“Gotta thank Alphys for that one…didn’t think that actually worked…”

 

She forced a ragged cough out of herself, spitting motes of dust out and rubbing a particularly raw part of her beat up head. She was black and blue for the wrong reasons here, pushed way beyond her capacity and slightly perturbed as to why she was still in (mostly) one piece, but hey: she was standing up and he was not. A more confident voice croaked out of her.

“How’s that shit feel… not very-”

 

She gave Brainz a taste of comeuppance by kicking him in his gut, he only grimaced and began to shiver, still locked up into himself.

“- **_GOOD._ ** Is it?”

 

Undyne groaned herself, and really had to focus through the swirling and stars she was seeing, but with the success of taking Brainz down came the return of her blue weapon: it was a pain to manifest it: let alone fight with it, but she wasn’t going to need to do that. 

“I don’t know  _ what  _ you are, or  _ how  _ you have that… but screw it… I’ll speak for everyone when I say:  I’ve had enough of you-.”

 

The sharp end of the weapon was prodded into his throat, blood lightly trickled from it: Brainz didn’t even try to fight it, let alone moving his limbs away from his crotch. He was as Undyne would claim “Hors de combat” and was about to become deceased. But despite everything he’d put her through… she couldn’t withhold her sense of adopted chivalry. Something Gerson might’ve wanted… she tried to rear up to stab Brainz… but eventually had to back away for just one thing.  _ One thing…  _ and  _ then  _ she would kill him. She begrudgingly sighed and let her morality take over.

“- not that you deserve it: But, you have any last words? Something profound….  **Or in your case: profane…”**

 

Brainz was drenched with sweat and coated with slimey red, his skin seemed ever more sickly pale than usual, like he was about to throw up. She could see his mouth moving indiscernibly, his jaw quivered and twitched with his eyes… drool ran down his chin: rinsing out some of the red. 

 

All she could think of was how effective this move she did really was. Why was it frowned upon exactly? This dreadfully powerful human was seemingly malfunctioning because of it… huddled and seizing up. The time on her “generous” offer was about to expire as she would resume executing this piece of garbage… but then he opened his eyes: his shivering and motions came to a dead stop. 

The way he was huddled, she could only see the “freak eye”... it’d never moved before, but now it was  _ looking  _ at her. She could  _ feel  _ it staring at her, it wasn’t Brainz that was staring at her… but it was like the eye itself came to life… blood red and pulsating… it looked into her eyes and dilated. Brainz then tilted his head up to face her. His expression was devoid of emotion… just  _ dead.  _ Like the crippling agony in his insides just vanished. Suddenly content to stare at her with that one eye opened… seeing red.

 

“Goddammit…"

Undyne whimpered in her head… she was supposed to be hardened, but that  _ look  _ he was giving her. She couldn’t stop the shiver from creeping up her back, she couldn’t convince herself of  _ anything  _ about this  _ thing:  _ he was intimidating as hell.

 

“ _ Nyegh!  _ Enough!”

 

She shook her head and advanced to finally end this, no more opportunities to be squandered! But just as she was about to, about to free herself… Brainz took her up on the previous offer… and the way he was staring into her soul: she was going to honor it, she had no choice. Brainz opened his mouth… but nothing came out.

 

“ _ What?”  _

 

He opened his mouth again, slowly articulating… more emphasis on nothing: he still didn’t utter any noise. Undyne already regretted peering closer to him but she just couldn’t stop herself. 

“What are you  _ saying? _ ”

 

Despite being less showing of it, the trauma to his groin was still rampant in him: he struggled to catch meager pockets of breath, but with the dead eyed stare… he forced out one word.

“You..”

 

One word he kept placing, as he tried to put together the other one… repeating himself with raspy wheezes. His expression deforming into hate.

“You…

You…” 

 

It was torture, even physically helpless: Brainz jerked the hold on the situation away from her: everything he did struck Undyne with a sense of  dread, the likes of which never witnessed firsthand… only told by stories to her from long ago. She was completely unprepared for it, and it showed… as that weapon began to shake: the concussion didn’t help. She finally slipped and bent over, upset.

“ _ What?!  _ What goddammit,  _ What???  _

I  **what?”**

 

The human managed to curb the misery just enough to finish it, the wheeze turned into rasped growl. The other eye opened up and what was said… Undyne witnessed it from the red eyed undoing she’d just unleashed.

**“** **_FUCK YOU…”_ **

 

Moved off of him by  a sleight of hand, Brainz’s arm shot out from underneath the purple leather: sending a metallic cylinder through the air barreling right for Undyne. 

 

She managed a startled jump as she leapt back nearly falling over, yet the attack was so underwhelming that she was able to snatch the object right out of the air. Catching it and forcing a nervous snicker at Brainz for that grand failure. 

 

She stopped smiling, seeing Brainz scramble to roll over: cupping his ears. 

 

Undyne then turned to get a good look at what she just caught: getting a perfect view of the flashbang right before-

 

- **it exploded,**  the effectiveness of one thousand flash bulbs couldn’t claim their effectiveness on a creature lacking biologically native photoreceptors … but that didn’t mean the shrapnel ripping into her eye didn’t blind her, the “non lethal” blast at the distance it had in her grip: reduced her bloodied claws to smoking stumps… it did all this while sounding off with the volume of a jet engine inside of a concert hall.

 

**_“AUUUUGHH!”_ **

She screamed in pain, dropping her weapon and holding her non burning hand to her lacerated eye, all of her senses were gone: outside of agony… she was in for more of it as she spun around and stumbled, letting out similar cries. The thing she was  _ supposed  _ to cry about, had leapt to his feet and grabbed his own weapon… Undyne was completely oblivious to this. She could’ve assumed something like it, but all she could focus on was the black void of hurting she was stuck in.  She never saw him coming.

 

Brainz hobbled over to the spasming creature, still unbalanced from his anatomical weak point. With both of his hands, and a hoarse warcry… he swung the sadist bat with everything he had, every inkling of might and fury. If he missed, he would toss his balance into a dizzy twister… but he was luckier than that, at least far luckier than the monster on the other side of the weapon.

 

The spiked head of the bat crashed into Undyne’s round head with titanic force. Brainz hit her so hard with it, the bat exploded: shooting splinters and nails in every direction. The sound of the impact was just below the thunderous boom the explosive made. It resonated for hundreds of yards down the caverns. It was followed by more sounds, ones barely audible: but easily felt. The sound of his knuckles  **_*popping!*_ ** from the recoil… and even more relevant… the sound of Undyne’s neck  **_*SNAPPING!*_ ** as her head twisted over one hundred degrees. She didn’t even make a sound as she fell over.

 

**This would be the last time.**

 [Undying Hatred](https://youtu.be/2gOzo1NuGZc?t=3m32s)

 

Brainz discarded the partially intact bat, he was far from finished-

“Oh,  **_hell_ ** no…”

 

-he limped, dragging half of himself right up to the body, his raised his good leg high in the air: and he’d bring it down on any part of her that dared to even struggle. Mistaking her convulsions from each stomp as such. Tying words to hyperventilations, excited gasps to his frantic stomps. 

“ **_TRY-GETTING-BACK-UP-FROM. THAT!_ **

**_GET UP-GET UP- GETUP- GETUP! GETUP! GETUP!_** ** _  
_****_I FUCKING DARE YOU!!_**

**_GET UP!!!”_ **

 

It didn’t stop, he  _ couldn’t  _ stop. He sunk into full fledged mania, no matter what he did: it wouldn’t be enough. He just had to keep attacking, it  _ wanted  _ him to keep going. Never stop, hit harder, hit  _ faster,  _ keep going, hit  _ harder,  _ go  **faster, don’t stop,** hit FASTER, STOMP  **HARDER,** _ DON’T  _ **_STOP, FASTER, HARDER: NEVER STOP!!!_ **

 

He yelled as loud as he could as the demands drilled through his thick skull, gnarled spikes sinking into his feeble brain. He had to hold onto his head, the pulsations pounded into him like a sledgehammer. It would burst by a thunderclap. 

 

His actions were no longer results born from will: they just  **_were._ ** His limbs began to flail on their own volitions, driven not by him: but a viral desire to harm. His mind fell to a whirlwind of violence. 

  
  
  


_ It wasn’t enough, no matter how hard he stomped, it was still going to get up. He needed a better way, he needed a way to end it… AND THERE IT WAS.  _

 

_ The blue nightmare dropped her spear, and it seems it had more determination than HER, because it still existed, just how she wouldn’t in just a moment.  _

 

_ He paused the rightful tenderizing only to ADAPT and IMPROVE, it didn’t matter if it was magic, he could pick it up TOO. Let’s see how SHE likes being stabbed by giant spears.  _

 

_ BRAINZ picked it up: and it reacted to him. Once radiant with the glow of cerulean impedance, at the touch of him, the RED on his hands seemed to spread into the weapon. As if the very matter of the spear was being INFECTED with hatred. Faster and faster, the RED clouded until there was nothing left but crimson death. His hands felt like they were on fire and the spear itself deformed from the change: a once sleek surface dissolved into serrated edges. BRAINZ only considered it, for the sake of driving it right through her heart.  _

 

_ BRAINZ plunged the turned weapon right into her very SOUL. It was so EASY, her form put up no fight to the attack, it was a direct hit… and suddenly: Undyne lurched violently: stimulated by the new blow, her face shot into a permanent state of  _ **** _ shock, and as BRAINZ twisted and thrashed it around inside of her, Undyne finally showed a sign of effect and mortality. She wretched up a stream of pure crimson, vomiting it from her mouth and jettisoning it from her mangled gills. BRAINZ took it as a sign it was WORKING, and he did it again, and AGAIN, and  _ **_AGAIN._ ** _ Every plunge made her spit up more and more red. It went everywhere, all over the floor, back down to her, and all over him. He didn’t care. He’d been wanting to do this for a LONG LONG time, NOTHING was going to stop him now. _

 

_ BRAINZ threw the weapon away… it shattered into burning pieces when it hit the ground… like molten glass, his hands were BURNING. He fell down to his knees, closer to her:  she still tried to fight him: it was moot. He pinned her good arm down and bent over, right to her head… just to take a huge BITE out of one of those ugly fins sticking out of it. He spat it out then reached his hand right into Undyne’s EYE. He plunged his thumb right into the sickly yellow thing… how she SCREAMED and YELLED.  _

**_But nobody came…_ **

 

_ He thrashed and forced his thumb around inside of her socket until *POP!* it came right out! He wasn’t too surprised when it turned to DUST as he crushed it in his grip… letting the remains of it sift into her open, screaming mouth. _

 

_ Then he had an idea, he pulled that trust carpenter’s knife out from his pocket. He hadn’t given it the LOVE it deserved! Now that wasn’t fair… so he made up for it by giving the knife the best purpose of them all. Undyne’s torso was a mess of all sorts of holes and slices… BRAINZ decided to play “connect the dots” and make them into one BIG hole. He’d done this before with that old shotgun, this would be just the same, only BIGGER and more HANDS ON.  _

 

_ He cut right through her stomach just like gutting a deer, and he split her right up the middle, opening her up to get a look at what she had inside that allowed her to survive for so long. It was like tearing open a balloon filled with tomato paste, RED mush: spattering and spraying all over him as she helplessly thrashed and cried out in pain. How EXCITING was this! He was going to find out just what was inside! The thought of this… he couldn’t have SMILED any wider, if he did: he’d dislocate his jaw. He was so HAPPY, he was just FOAMING at the mouth.  _

 

_ With her insides wide open and exposed, BRAINZ reached right inside, to turn them into OUTSIDES. His hands were BURNING, he dove them inside of her and began pulling chunks of her out: one handful at a time, clumsily grabbing bigger and more solid masses as they began to resemble viscera, clump by clump. The RED became more and more prominent, soon: there was nothing BUT RED. All he could see was RED. RED guts, RED eyes, RED SOUL. He’s not going to stop until there’s NOTHING LEFT.  _

 

_ “Are we having fun NOW?  _ **_I_ ** _ AM!! Is this EVERYTHING you ever dreamed of?!  _ **_THIS_ ** _ is what your “hopes and dreams” are good for, THIS is what you get!” _

 

_ His arms were soaked with red up to his elbows, it didn’t dare overshadow the tattoos: they earned their right to exist, it only outlined them. The bullet snake HISSED at her.  Despite all this FUN, there was still so much of her left to dump out… so BRAINZ had an idea.  _

 

_ He flipped her over and retrieved the belt she had broken, Undyne didn’t even move when BRAINZ walked away for the moment, she didn’t have enough left in her to try. BRAINZ returned and grabbed her by a large hole in her head… he dragged her limp body towards the gigantic flames that had taken most of the bridge by this point: a mixture of dust and red smeared under her.  _

 

_ “THIS is what you ALL get! I’m not going to stop until I’ve destroyed you… and then… I’m not going to stop there, I’m going to KEEP GOING until you don’t EXIST. _

_ I’m going to keep going until you NEVER existed.” _

 

_ The heat was intense, but his intent was stronger, throwing her down onto the last yard of wood that hadn’t blackened nor crumbled into ashes: BRAINZ tightened the leather around undyne’s neck, essentially forming a makeshift noose. He tied the other end to the last intact bridge post… there was no accounting for how well he tied it or if it’d hold: he kicked her right off the side of the glowing wood. His final act against her… leaving her to burn as her entrails fell into the abyss below… she’d burn until she ceased to exist… or the bridge gave out: throwing her away with the rest of it. She was dead either way.  _

 

_ BRAINZ bent down to finally give her those “last words” she wanted.  _

 

_ “I’ll kill EVERYONE you ever loved, EVERYONE who ever knew you, EVERYONE who ever looked up to you.  _

_Starting with that-_ ** _little..._** **_armless… FREAK!!”_**

 

_ He burst into laughter because it was funny as hell. He laughed so hard, he could barely breathe…  and in between his frantic gasps for air mingling with howls, he shouted for everyone to hear… mostly her. _

_ “YOU’LL DIE!!-” _

_ He giggled maniacally _

_ “- YOU’LL DIE!!!  _

**_YOU’LL. ALL. DIE!!!_ **

**_DIEEEE!!!!_ **

**_DIEEE!!!!!”_ **

 

_ He screamed with laughter, his howls ran down the corridors: wrapping around everything inside. The sound of his victory would exist unchallenged… until he heard the  _ sobs.

 

He stopped laughing and turned towards the noise: his celebration would be cut short at what he saw. The “little armless freak” was staring right at him: face streaming with tears.

  
  


[...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGqvpMQQ48o)

  
  


  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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